Channel state information reporting for multiple transmit/receive points

ABSTRACT

Apparatuses, methods, and systems are disclosed for channel state information reporting for multiple transmit/receive points. One apparatus includes a transceiver that receives, at a UE, one or more channel state information reporting configurations associated with multiple transmission/reception points reporting for a mobile wireless communication network. The transceiver receives, at the UE, one or more CSI reference signals from the mobile wireless communication network, the one or more CSI-RSs configured for at least one of channel measurement and interference measurement. In one embodiment, the transceiver transmits, from the UE, one or more CSI reports corresponding to one or more transmission hypotheses based on the at least one of channel measurements and interference measurements, each CSI report comprising one or more precoding matrix indicators and one or more rank indicators.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationNo. 63/084,522 entitled “CSI ENHANCEMENTS FOR MULTI-TRP UNDER SINGLE DCIAND MULTI-DCI” and filed on Sep. 28, 2020, for Ahmed Monier IbrahimSaleh Hindy et al., which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to wirelesscommunications and more particularly relates to channel stateinformation reporting for multiple transmit/receive points.

BACKGROUND

In certain wireless communication systems, a User Equipment device(“UE”) is able to connect with a fifth-generation (“5G”) core network(i.e., “5GC”) in a Public Land Mobile Network (“PLMN”). In wirelessnetworks, channel state information may be transmitted between a UE anda wireless network.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Disclosed are procedures for channel state information reporting formultiple transmit/receive points. Said procedures may be implemented byapparatus, systems, methods, and/or computer program products.

An apparatus, in one embodiment, a transceiver that receives, at a UE,one or more channel state information (“CSI”) reporting configurationsassociated with multiple transmission/reception points (“TRPs”)reporting for a mobile wireless communication network. In oneembodiment, the transceiver receives, at the UE, one or more CSIreference signals (“RSs”) from the mobile wireless communicationnetwork, the one or more CSI-RSs configured for at least one of channelmeasurement and interference measurement. In one embodiment, thetransceiver transmits, from the UE, one or more CSI reportscorresponding to one or more transmission hypotheses based on the atleast one of channel measurements and interference measurements, eachCSI report comprising one or more precoding matrix indicators (“PMIs”)and one or more rank indicators.

In one embodiment, a transceiver sends, to a user equipment (“UE”), oneor more channel state information (“CSI”) reporting configurationsassociated with multiple transmission/reception points (“TRPs”)reporting for a mobile wireless communication network. In oneembodiment, the transceiver sends, to the UE, one or more CSI referencesignals (“RSs”) from the mobile wireless communication network, the oneor more CSI-RSs configured for at least one of channel measurement andinterference measurement. In one embodiment, the transceiver receives,from the UE, one or more CSI reports corresponding to one or moretransmission hypotheses based on the at least one of channelmeasurements and interference measurements, each CSI report comprisingone or more precoding matrix indicators (“PMIs”) and one or more rankindicators.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more particular description of the embodiments briefly described abovewill be rendered by reference to specific embodiments that areillustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that these drawingsdepict only some embodiments and are not therefore to be considered tobe limiting of scope, the embodiments will be described and explainedwith additional specificity and detail through the use of theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of awireless communication system for channel state information reportingfor multiple transmit/receive points;

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating embodiments of a system for channelstate information reporting for multiple transmit/receive points;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating one embodiment of multipletransmit/receive points in a coordination cluster connected to a centralprocessing unit;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating one embodiment of aperiodic triggerstate defining a list of channel state information report settings forchannel state information reporting for multiple transmit/receivepoints;

FIG. 5 is a code sample illustrating one embodiment of the process bywhich an aperiodic trigger state indicates a resource set and QCLinformation for channel state information reporting for multipletransmit/receive points;

FIG. 6 is a code sample illustrating one embodiment of an RRCconfiguration including an NZP-CSI-RS resource and a CSI-IM-resource forchannel state information reporting for multiple transmit/receivepoints;

FIG. 7 is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of apartial channel state information omission for PUSCH-based channel stateinformation for channel state information reporting for multipletransmit/receive points;

FIG. 8A is a code sample illustrating one embodiment of indicating tothe UE that multi-TRP/Panel CSI feedback reporting is to be used;

FIG. 8B is a code sample illustrating one embodiment of indicating tothe UE that multi-TRP/Panel CSI feedback reporting is to be used;

FIG. 8C is a code sample illustrating one embodiment of indicating tothe UE that multi-TRP/Panel CSI feedback reporting is to be used;

FIG. 8D is a code sample illustrating one embodiment of indicating tothe UE that multi-TRP/Panel CSI feedback reporting is to be used;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a userequipment apparatus that may be used for channel state informationreporting for multiple transmit/receive points;

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a networkapparatus that may be used for channel state information reporting formultiple transmit/receive points;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart diagram illustrating one embodiment of a methodfor channel state information reporting for multiple transmit/receivepoints; and

FIG. 12 is a flowchart diagram illustrating one embodiment of anothermethod for channel state information reporting for multipletransmit/receive points.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of theembodiments may be embodied as a system, apparatus, method, or programproduct. Accordingly, embodiments may take the form of an entirelyhardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (includingfirmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an embodimentcombining software and hardware aspects.

For example, the disclosed embodiments may be implemented as a hardwarecircuit comprising custom very-large-scale integration (“VLSI”) circuitsor gate arrays, off-the-shelf semiconductors such as logic chips,transistors, or other discrete components. The disclosed embodiments mayalso be implemented in programmable hardware devices such as fieldprogrammable gate arrays, programmable array logic, programmable logicdevices, or the like. As another example, the disclosed embodiments mayinclude one or more physical or logical blocks of executable code whichmay, for instance, be organized as an object, procedure, or function.

Furthermore, embodiments may take the form of a program product embodiedin one or more computer readable storage devices storing machinereadable code, computer readable code, and/or program code, referredhereafter as code. The storage devices may be tangible, non-transitory,and/or non-transmission. The storage devices may not embody signals. Ina certain embodiment, the storage devices only employ signals foraccessing code.

Any combination of one or more computer readable medium may be utilized.The computer readable medium may be a computer readable storage medium.The computer readable storage medium may be a storage device storing thecode. The storage device may be, for example, but not limited to, anelectronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, holographic,micromechanical, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or anysuitable combination of the foregoing.

More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the storage devicewould include the following: an electrical connection having one or morewires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random-access memory(“RAM”), a read-only memory (“ROM”), an erasable programmable read-onlymemory (“EPROM” or Flash memory), a portable compact disc read-onlymemory (“CD-ROM”), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device,or any suitable combination of the foregoing. In the context of thisdocument, a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible mediumthat can contain or store a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Code for carrying out operations for embodiments may be any number oflines and may be written in any combination of one or more programminglanguages including an object-oriented programming language such asPython, Ruby, Java, Smalltalk, C++, or the like, and conventionalprocedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming language,or the like, and/or machine languages such as assembly languages. Thecode may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user'scomputer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user'scomputer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remotecomputer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may beconnected to the user's computer through any type of network, includinga local area network (“LAN”), wireless LAN (“WLAN”), or a wide areanetwork (“WAN”), or the connection may be made to an external computer(for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider(“ISP”)).

Furthermore, the described features, structures, or characteristics ofthe embodiments may be combined in any suitable manner. In the followingdescription, numerous specific details are provided, such as examples ofprogramming, software modules, user selections, network transactions,database queries, database structures, hardware modules, hardwarecircuits, hardware chips, etc., to provide a thorough understanding ofembodiments. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however,that embodiments may be practiced without one or more of the specificdetails, or with other methods, components, materials, and so forth. Inother instances, well-known structures, materials, or operations are notshown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of anembodiment.

Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “anembodiment,” or similar language means that a particular feature,structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodimentis included in at least one embodiment. Thus, appearances of the phrases“in one embodiment,” “in an embodiment,” and similar language throughoutthis specification may, but do not necessarily, all refer to the sameembodiment, but mean “one or more but not all embodiments” unlessexpressly specified otherwise. The terms “including,” “comprising,”“having,” and variations thereof mean “including but not limited to,”unless expressly specified otherwise. An enumerated listing of itemsdoes not imply that any or all of the items are mutually exclusive,unless expressly specified otherwise. The terms “a,” “an,” and “the”also refer to “one or more” unless expressly specified otherwise.

As used herein, a list with a conjunction of “and/or” includes anysingle item in the list or a combination of items in the list. Forexample, a list of A, B and/or C includes only A, only B, only C, acombination of A and B, a combination of B and C, a combination of A andC or a combination of A, B and C. As used herein, a list using theterminology “one or more of” includes any single item in the list or acombination of items in the list. For example, one or more of A, B and Cincludes only A, only B, only C, a combination of A and B, a combinationof B and C, a combination of A and C or a combination of A, B and C. Asused herein, a list using the terminology “one of” includes one and onlyone of any single item in the list. For example, “one of A, B and C”includes only A, only B or only C and excludes combinations of A, B andC. As used herein, “a member selected from the group consisting of A, B,and C,” includes one and only one of A, B, or C, and excludescombinations of A, B, and C.” As used herein, “a member selected fromthe group consisting of A, B, and C and combinations thereof” includesonly A, only B, only C, a combination of A and B, a combination of B andC, a combination of A and C or a combination of A, B and C.

Aspects of the embodiments are described below with reference toschematic flowchart diagrams and/or schematic block diagrams of methods,apparatuses, systems, and program products according to embodiments. Itwill be understood that each block of the schematic flowchart diagramsand/or schematic block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theschematic flowchart diagrams and/or schematic block diagrams, can beimplemented by code. This code may be provided to a processor of ageneral-purpose computer, special purpose computer, or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such thatthe instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer orother programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart diagramsand/or block diagrams.

The code may also be stored in a storage device that can direct acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devicesto function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored inthe storage device produce an article of manufacture includinginstructions which implement the function/act specified in the flowchartdiagrams and/or block diagrams.

The code may also be loaded onto a computer, other programmable dataprocessing apparatus, or other devices to cause a series of operationalsteps to be performed on the computer, other programmable apparatus orother devices to produce a computer implemented process such that thecode which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatusprovide processes for implementing the functions/acts specified in theflowchart diagrams and/or block diagrams.

The flowchart diagrams and/or block diagrams in the Figures illustratethe architecture, functionality, and operation of possibleimplementations of apparatuses, systems, methods, and program productsaccording to various embodiments. In this regard, each block in theflowchart diagrams and/or block diagrams may represent a module,segment, or portion of code, which includes one or more executableinstructions of the code for implementing the specified logicalfunction(s).

It should also be noted that, in some alternative implementations, thefunctions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in theFigures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, beexecuted substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes beexecuted in the reverse order, depending upon the functionalityinvolved. Other steps and methods may be conceived that are equivalentin function, logic, or effect to one or more blocks, or portionsthereof, of the illustrated Figures.

Although various arrow types and line types may be employed in theflowchart and/or block diagrams, they are understood not to limit thescope of the corresponding embodiments. Indeed, some arrows or otherconnectors may be used to indicate only the logical flow of the depictedembodiment. For instance, an arrow may indicate a waiting or monitoringperiod of unspecified duration between enumerated steps of the depictedembodiment. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagramsand/or flowchart diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the blockdiagrams and/or flowchart diagrams, can be implemented by specialpurpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions oracts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and code.

The description of elements in each figure may refer to elements ofproceeding figures. Like numbers refer to like elements in all figures,including alternate embodiments of like elements.

Generally, the present disclosure describes systems, methods, andapparatus for channel state information reporting for multipletransmit/receive points. In certain embodiments, the methods may beperformed using computer code embedded on a computer-readable medium. Incertain embodiments, an apparatus or system may include acomputer-readable medium containing computer-readable code which, whenexecuted by a processor, causes the apparatus or system to perform atleast a portion of the below described solutions.

For 3GPP NR, multiple transmit/receive points (“TRPS”) or multipleantenna panels within a TRP may communicate simultaneously with one userequipment (UE) to enhance coverage, throughput, or reliability. This maycome at the expense of excessive control signaling between the networkside and the UE side, so as to communicate the best transmissionconfiguration, e.g., whether to support multi-point transmission, and ifso, which TRPs would operate simultaneously, in addition to a possiblysuper-linear increase in the amount of channel state information (“CSI”)feedback reported from the UE to the network, since a distinct reportmay be needed for each transmission configuration. For NR Type-IIcodebook with high resolution, the number of Precoding Matrix Indicator(“PMI”) bits fed back from the UE in the gNB via uplink controlinformation (“UCI”) can be very large (>1000 bits at large bandwidth),even for a single-point transmission. Thereby, reducing the number ofPMI feedback bits per report is crucial to improve efficiency.

FIG. 1 depicts a wireless communication system 100 for channel stateinformation reporting for multiple transmit/receive points, according toembodiments of the disclosure. In one embodiment, the wirelesscommunication system 100 includes at least one remote unit 105, aFifth-Generation Radio Access Network (“5G-RAN”) 115, and a mobile corenetwork 140. The 5G-RAN 115 and the mobile core network 140 form amobile communication network. The 5G-RAN 115 may be composed of a 3GPPaccess network 120 containing at least one cellular base unit 121 and/ora non-3GPP access network 130 containing at least one access point 131.The remote unit 105 communicates with the 3GPP access network 120 using3GPP communication links 123 and/or communicates with the non-3GPPaccess network 130 using non-3GPP communication links 133. Even though aspecific number of remote units 105, 3GPP access networks 120, cellularbase units 121, 3GPP communication links 123, non-3GPP access networks130, access points 131, non-3GPP communication links 133, and mobilecore networks 140 are depicted in FIG. 1 , one of skill in the art willrecognize that any number of remote units 105, 3GPP access networks 120,cellular base units 121, 3GPP communication links 123, non-3GPP accessnetworks 130, access points 131, non-3GPP communication links 133, andmobile core networks 140 may be included in the wireless communicationsystem 100.

In one implementation, the RAN 120 is compliant with the 5G systemspecified in the Third Generation Partnership Project (“3GPP”)specifications. For example, the RAN 120 may be a NG-RAN, implementingNR RAT and/or LTE RAT. In another example, the RAN 120 may includenon-3GPP RAT (e.g., Wi-Fi® or Institute of Electrical and ElectronicsEngineers (“IEEE”) 802.11-family compliant WLAN). In anotherimplementation, the RAN 120 is compliant with the LTE system specifiedin the 3GPP specifications. More generally, however, the wirelesscommunication system 100 may implement some other open or proprietarycommunication network, for example Worldwide Interoperability forMicrowave Access (“WiMAX”) or IEEE 802.16-family standards, among othernetworks. The present disclosure is not intended to be limited to theimplementation of any particular wireless communication systemarchitecture or protocol.

In one embodiment, the remote units 105 may include computing devices,such as desktop computers, laptop computers, personal digital assistants(“PDAs”), tablet computers, smart phones, smart televisions (e.g.,televisions connected to the Internet), smart appliances (e.g.,appliances connected to the Internet), set-top boxes, game consoles,security systems (including security cameras), vehicle on-boardcomputers, network devices (e.g., routers, switches, modems), or thelike. In some embodiments, the remote units 105 include wearabledevices, such as smart watches, fitness bands, optical head-mounteddisplays, or the like. Moreover, the remote units 105 may be referred toas the UEs, subscriber units, mobiles, mobile stations, users,terminals, mobile terminals, fixed terminals, subscriber stations, userterminals, wireless transmit/receive unit (“WTRU”), a device, or byother terminology used in the art. In various embodiments, the remoteunit 105 includes a subscriber identity and/or identification module(“SIM”) and the mobile equipment (“ME”) providing mobile terminationfunctions (e.g., radio transmission, handover, speech encoding anddecoding, error detection and correction, signaling and access to theSIM). In certain embodiments, the remote unit 105 may include a terminalequipment (“TE”) and/or be embedded in an appliance or device (e.g., acomputing device, as described above).

In one embodiment, the remote units 105 may include computing devices,such as desktop computers, laptop computers, personal digital assistants(“PDAs”), tablet computers, smart phones, smart televisions (e.g.,televisions connected to the Internet), smart appliances (e.g.,appliances connected to the Internet), set-top boxes, game consoles,security systems (including security cameras), vehicle on-boardcomputers, network devices (e.g., routers, switches, modems), or thelike. In some embodiments, the remote units 105 include wearabledevices, such as smart watches, fitness bands, optical head-mounteddisplays, or the like. Moreover, the remote units 105 may be referred toas UEs, subscriber units, mobiles, mobile stations, users, terminals,mobile terminals, fixed terminals, subscriber stations, user terminals,wireless transmit/receive unit (“WTRU”), a device, or by otherterminology used in the art.

The remote units 105 may communicate directly with one or more of thecellular base units 121 in the 3GPP access network 120 via uplink (“UL”)and downlink (“DL”) communication signals. Furthermore, the UL and DLcommunication signals may be carried over the 3GPP communication links123. Similarly, the remote units 105 may communicate with one or moreaccess points 131 in the non-3GPP access network(s) 130 via UL and DLcommunication signals carried over the non-3GPP communication links 133.Here, the access networks 120 and 130 are intermediate networks thatprovide the remote units 105 with access to the mobile core network 140.

In some embodiments, the remote units 105 communicate with a remote host(e.g., in the data network 150 or in the data network 160) via a networkconnection with the mobile core network 140. For example, an application107 (e.g., web browser, media client, telephone and/orVoice-over-Internet-Protocol (“VoIP”) application) in a remote unit 105may trigger the remote unit 105 to establish a protocol data unit(“PDU”) session (or other data connection) with the mobile core network140 via the 5G-RAN 115 (i.e., via the 3GPP access network 120 and/ornon-3GPP network 130). The mobile core network 140 then relays trafficbetween the remote unit 105 and the remote host using the PDU session.The PDU session represents a logical connection between the remote unit105 and a User Plane Function (“UPF”) 141.

In order to establish the PDU session (or PDN connection), the remoteunit 105 must be registered with the mobile core network 140 (alsoreferred to as “attached to the mobile core network” in the context of aFourth Generation (“4G”) system). Note that the remote unit 105 mayestablish one or more PDU sessions (or other data connections) with themobile core network 140. As such, the remote unit 105 may have at leastone PDU session for communicating with the packet data network 150.Additionally—or alternatively—the remote unit 105 may have at least onePDU session for communicating with the packet data network 160. Theremote unit 105 may establish additional PDU sessions for communicatingwith other data networks and/or other communication peers.

In the context of a 5G system (“5GS”), the term “PDU Session” refers toa data connection that provides end-to-end (“E2E”) user plane (“UP”)connectivity between the remote unit 105 and a specific Data Network(“DN”) through the UPF 131. A PDU Session supports one or more Qualityof Service (“QoS”) Flows. In certain embodiments, there may be aone-to-one mapping between a QoS Flow and a QoS profile, such that allpackets belonging to a specific QoS Flow have the same 5G QoS Identifier(“5QI”).

In the context of a 4G/LTE system, such as the Evolved Packet System(“EPS”), a Packet Data Network (“PDN”) connection (also referred to asEPS session) provides E2E UP connectivity between the remote unit and aPDN. The PDN connectivity procedure establishes an EPS Bearer, i.e., atunnel between the remote unit 105 and a Packet Gateway (“PGW”, notshown) in the mobile core network 130. In certain embodiments, there isa one-to-one mapping between an EPS Bearer and a QoS profile, such thatall packets belonging to a specific EPS Bearer have the same QoS ClassIdentifier (“QCI”).

As described in greater detail below, the remote unit 105 may use afirst data connection (e.g., PDU Session) established with the firstmobile core network 130 to establish a second data connection (e.g.,part of a second PDU session) with the second mobile core network 140.When establishing a data connection (e.g., PDU session) with the secondmobile core network 140, the remote unit 105 uses the first dataconnection to register with the second mobile core network 140.

The cellular base units 121 may be distributed over a geographic region.In certain embodiments, a cellular base unit 121 may also be referred toas an access terminal, a base, a base station, a Node-B (“NB”), anEvolved Node B (abbreviated as eNodeB or “eNB,” also known as EvolvedUniversal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (“E-UTRAN”) Node B), a 5G/NRNode B (“gNB”), a Home Node-B, a Home Node-B, a relay node, a device, orby any other terminology used in the art. The cellular base units 121are generally part of a radio access network (“RAN”), such as the 3GPPaccess network 120, that may include one or more controllerscommunicably coupled to one or more corresponding cellular base units121. These and other elements of radio access network are notillustrated but are well known generally by those having ordinary skillin the art. The cellular base units 121 connect to the mobile corenetwork 140 via the 3GPP access network 120.

The cellular base units 121 may serve a number of remote units 105within a serving area, for example, a cell or a cell sector, via a 3GPPwireless communication link 123. The cellular base units 121 maycommunicate directly with one or more of the remote units 105 viacommunication signals. Generally, the cellular base units 121 transmitDL communication signals to serve the remote units 105 in the time,frequency, and/or spatial domain. Furthermore, the DL communicationsignals may be carried over the 3GPP communication links 123. The 3GPPcommunication links 123 may be any suitable carrier in licensed orunlicensed radio spectrum. The 3GPP communication links 123 facilitatecommunication between one or more of the remote units 105 and/or one ormore of the cellular base units 121. Note that during NR operation onunlicensed spectrum (referred to as “NR-U”), the base unit 121 and theremote unit 105 communicate over unlicensed (i.e., shared) radiospectrum.

The non-3GPP access networks 130 may be distributed over a geographicregion. Each non-3GPP access network 130 may serve a number of remoteunits 105 with a serving area. An access point 131 in a non-3GPP accessnetwork 130 may communicate directly with one or more remote units 105by receiving UL communication signals and transmitting DL communicationsignals to serve the remote units 105 in the time, frequency, and/orspatial domain. Both DL and UL communication signals are carried overthe non-3GPP communication links 133. The 3GPP communication links 123and non-3GPP communication links 133 may employ different frequenciesand/or different communication protocols. In various embodiments, anaccess point 131 may communicate using unlicensed radio spectrum. Themobile core network 140 may provide services to a remote unit 105 viathe non-3GPP access networks 130, as described in greater detail herein.

In some embodiments, a non-3GPP access network 130 connects to themobile core network 140 via an interworking entity 135. The interworkingentity 135 provides an interworking between the non-3GPP access network130 and the mobile core network 140. The interworking entity 135supports connectivity via the “N2” and “N3” interfaces. As depicted,both the 3GPP access network 120 and the interworking entity 135communicate with the AMF 143 using a “N2” interface. The 3GPP accessnetwork 120 and interworking entity 135 also communicate with the UPF141 using a “N3” interface. While depicted as outside the mobile corenetwork 140, in other embodiments the interworking entity 135 may be apart of the core network. While depicted as outside the non-3GPP RAN130, in other embodiments the interworking entity 135 may be a part ofthe non-3GPP RAN 130.

In certain embodiments, a non-3GPP access network 130 may be controlledby an operator of the mobile core network 140 and may have direct accessto the mobile core network 140. Such a non-3GPP AN deployment isreferred to as a “trusted non-3GPP access network.” A non-3GPP accessnetwork 130 is considered as “trusted” when it is operated by the 3GPPoperator, or a trusted partner, and supports certain security features,such as strong air-interface encryption. In contrast, a non-3GPP ANdeployment that is not controlled by an operator (or trusted partner) ofthe mobile core network 140, does not have direct access to the mobilecore network 140, or does not support the certain security features isreferred to as a “non-trusted” non-3GPP access network. An interworkingentity 135 deployed in a trusted non-3GPP access network 130 may bereferred to herein as a Trusted Network Gateway Function (“TNGF”). Aninterworking entity 135 deployed in a non-trusted non-3GPP accessnetwork 130 may be referred to herein as a non-3GPP interworkingfunction (“N3IWF”). While depicted as a part of the non-3GPP accessnetwork 130, in some embodiments the N3IWF may be a part of the mobilecore network 140 or may be located in the data network 150.

In one embodiment, the mobile core network 140 is a 5G core (“5GC”) orthe evolved packet core (“EPC”), which may be coupled to a data network150, like the Internet and private data networks, among other datanetworks. A remote unit 105 may have a subscription or other accountwith the mobile core network 140. Each mobile core network 140 belongsto a single public land mobile network (“PLMN”). The present disclosureis not intended to be limited to the implementation of any particularwireless communication system architecture or protocol.

The mobile core network 140 includes several network functions (“NFs”).As depicted, the mobile core network 140 includes at least one UPF(“UPF”) 141. The mobile core network 140 also includes multiple controlplane functions including, but not limited to, an Access and MobilityManagement Function (“AMF”) 143 that serves the 5G-RAN 115, a SessionManagement Function (“SMF”) 145, a Policy Control Function (“PCF”) 146,an Authentication Server Function (“AUSF”) 147, a Unified DataManagement (“UDM”) and Unified Data Repository function (“UDR”).

The UPF(s) 141 is responsible for packet routing and forwarding, packetinspection, QoS handling, and external PDU session for interconnectingData Network (“DN”), in the 5G architecture. The AMF 143 is responsiblefor termination of NAS signaling, NAS ciphering & integrity protection,registration management, connection management, mobility management,access authentication and authorization, security context management.The SMF 145 is responsible for session management (i.e., sessionestablishment, modification, release), remote unit (i.e., UE) IP addressallocation & management, DL data notification, and traffic steeringconfiguration for UPF for proper traffic routing.

The PCF 146 is responsible for unified policy framework, providingpolicy rules to CP functions, access subscription information for policydecisions in UDR. The AUSF 147 acts as an authentication server.

The UDM is responsible for generation of Authentication and KeyAgreement (“AKA”) credentials, user identification handling, accessauthorization, subscription management. The UDR is a repository ofsubscriber information and can be used to service a number of networkfunctions. For example, the UDR may store subscription data,policy-related data, subscriber-related data that is permitted to beexposed to third party applications, and the like. In some embodiments,the UDM is co-located with the UDR, depicted as combined entity“UDM/UDR” 149.

In various embodiments, the mobile core network 140 may also include anNetwork Exposure Function (“NEF”) (which is responsible for makingnetwork data and resources easily accessible to customers and networkpartners, e.g., via one or more APIs), a Network Repository Function(“NRF”) (which provides NF service registration and discovery, enablingNFs to identify appropriate services in one another and communicate witheach other over Application Programming Interfaces (“APIs”)), or otherNFs defined for the 5GC. In certain embodiments, the mobile core network140 may include an authentication, authorization, and accounting (“AAA”)server.

In various embodiments, the mobile core network 140 supports differenttypes of mobile data connections and different types of network slices,wherein each mobile data connection utilizes a specific network slice.Here, a “network slice” refers to a portion of the mobile core network140 optimized for a certain traffic type or communication service. Anetwork instance may be identified by a S-NSSAI, while a set of networkslices for which the remote unit 105 is authorized to use is identifiedby NSSAI. In certain embodiments, the various network slices may includeseparate instances of network functions, such as the SMF and UPF 141. Insome embodiments, the different network slices may share some commonnetwork functions, such as the AMF 143. The different network slices arenot shown in FIG. 1 for ease of illustration, but their support isassumed.

Although specific numbers and types of network functions are depicted inFIG. 1 , one of skill in the art will recognize that any number and typeof network functions may be included in the mobile core network 140.Moreover, where the mobile core network 140 comprises an EPC, thedepicted network functions may be replaced with appropriate EPCentities, such as an MME, S-GW, P-GW, HSS, and the like.

While FIG. 1 depicts components of a 5G RAN and a 5G core network, thedescribed embodiments for using a pseudonym for access authenticationover non-3GPP access apply to other types of communication networks andRATs, including IEEE 802.11 variants, GSM, GPRS, UMTS, LTE variants,CDMA 2000, Bluetooth, ZigBee, Sigfoxx, and the like. For example, in an4G/LTE variant involving an EPC, the AMF 143 may be mapped to an MME,the SMF mapped to a control plane portion of a PGW and/or to an MME, theUPF 141 may be mapped to an SGW and a user plane portion of the PGW, theUDM/UDR 149 may be mapped to an HSS, etc.

As depicted, a remote unit 105 (e.g., a UE) may connect to the mobilecore network (e.g., to a 5G mobile communication network) via two typesof accesses: (1) via 3GPP access network 120 and (2) via a non-3GPPaccess network 130. The first type of access (e.g., 3GPP access network120) uses a 3GPP-defined type of wireless communication (e.g., NG-RAN)and the second type of access (e.g., non-3GPP access network 130) uses anon-3GPP-defined type of wireless communication (e.g., WLAN). The 5G-RAN115 refers to any type of 5G access network that can provide access tothe mobile core network 140, including the 3GPP access network 120 andthe non-3GPP access network 130.

As discussed above, in one embodiment, for 3GPP NR, multipletransmit/receive points (“TRPS”) or multiple antenna panels within a TRPmay communicate simultaneously with one user equipment (“UE”) to enhancecoverage, throughput, or reliability. This may come at the expense ofexcessive control signaling between the network side and the UE side, soas to communicate the best transmission configuration, e.g., whether tosupport multi-point transmission, and if so, which TRPs would operatesimultaneously, in addition to a possibly super-linear increase in theamount of channel state information (“CSI”) feedback reported from theUE to the network, since a distinct report may be needed for eachtransmission configuration. For NR Type-II codebook with highresolution, the number of Precoding Matrix Indicator (“PMI”) bits fedback from the UE in the gNB via uplink control information (“UCI”) canbe very large (>1000 bits at large bandwidth), even for a single-pointtransmission. Thereby, reducing the number of PMI feedback bits perreport is crucial to improve efficiency.

The multiple input/multiple output (“MIMO”) enhancements, in oneembodiment, in NR MIMO work item included multi-TRP and multi-paneltransmissions. The purpose of multi-TRP transmission, in one embodiment,is to improve the spectral efficiency, as well as the reliability androbustness of the connection in different scenarios, and it covers bothideal and nonideal backhaul.

For increasing the spectral efficiency using multi-TRP, in oneembodiment, non-coherent joint transmission (“NCJT”) may be used. Unlikecoherent joint transmission that requires tight synchronization betweenthe TRPs and a high CSI accuracy for precoding design, NCJT requiresthat each TRP 202 transmits different layers of the same codeword (e.g.,single scheduling DCI—two PDSCH transmission, as shown in part (a) 200)or the layers corresponding to a single codeword (e.g., two-schedulingDCIs—two PDSCH transmission, as shown in part (b) 205), as depicted inFIG. 2 .

In one embodiment, NCJT supports a maximum of two TRP jointtransmissions. Nonetheless, the UE 304 may be served by multiple TRPs302 forming a coordination cluster, possibly connected to a centralprocessing unit 306, as shown in FIG. 3 .

In one scenario, a UE can be dynamically scheduled to be served by oneof multiple TRPs in the cluster (baseline Rel-15 NR scheme). The networkcan also pick two TRPs to perform joint transmission. In either case,the UE needs to report the needed CSI information for the network for itto decide the multi-TRP downlink transmission scheme.

However, in one embodiment, the number of transmission hypothesesincreases exponentially with number of TRPs in the coordination cluster.For example, for 4 TRPs, you have 10 transmission hypotheses: (TRP 1),(TRP 2), (TRP 3), (TRP 4), (TRP 1, TRP 2), (TRP 1, TRP 3), (TRP 1, TRP4), (TRP 2, TRP 3), (TRP 2, TRP 4), and (TRP 3, TRP 4). The overheadfrom reporting will increase dramatically with the size of thecoordination cluster.

Moreover, in one embodiment, the uplink transmission resources on whichthe CSI reports are transmitted might not be enough, and partial CSIomission might be necessary as the case in Rel-16. Currently CSI reportsare prioritized according to:

-   -   time-domain behavior and physical channel, where more dynamic        reports are given precedence over less dynamic reports and        physical uplink shared channel (“PUSCH”) has precedence over        physical uplink control channel (“PUCCH”).    -   CSI content, where beam reports (i.e. L1-RSRP reporting) has        priority over regular CSI reports.    -   the serving cell to which the CSI corresponds (in case of CA        operation). CSI corresponding to the PCell has priority over CSI        corresponding to Scells.    -   the reportConfigID.

This ordering, in one embodiment, does not consider that some multi-TRPNCJT transmission hypotheses, as measured by the UE, will achieve lowspectral efficiency performance and should be given a lower priority.

The subject matter disclosed herein, in one embodiment, for the purposeof multi-TRP NCJT physical downlink shared channel (“PDSCH”)transmission, enables the UE to:

-   -   reduce the CSI reporting overhead without degrading performance,    -   modify partial CSI omission priorities to favor multi-TRP        transmission hypotheses with higher spectral efficiency.

Further, in one embodiment, the disclosure aims at providing smarttechniques for CSI feedback reporting, such that different reportscorresponding to different transmission configurations are jointlydesigned so as to reduce the overall CSI feedback overhead formulti-TRP/Panel transmission.

Regarding NR Type-II Codebook, in one embodiment, assume the gNB isequipped with a two-dimensional (2D) antenna array with N₁, N₂ antennaports per polarization placed horizontally and vertically andcommunication occurs over N₃ PMI sub-bands. A PMI subband consists of aset of resource blocks, each resource block consisting of a set ofsubcarriers. In such case, 2N₁N₂ CSI-reference signal (“RS”) ports areutilized to enable DL channel estimation with high resolution for NRType-II codebook. In order to reduce the UL feedback overhead, aDiscrete Fourier transform (DFT)-based CSI compression of the spatialdomain is applied to L dimensions per polarization, where L<N₁N₂. Themagnitude and phase values of the linear combination coefficients foreach sub-band are fed back to the gNB as part of the CSI report. The2N₁N₂×N₃ codebook per layer takes on the form

W=W ₁ W ₂

where W₁ is a 2N₁N₂×2L block-diagonal matrix (L<N₁N₂) with two identicaldiagonal blocks, i.e.,

${W_{1} = \begin{bmatrix}B & 0 \\0 & B\end{bmatrix}},$

and B is an N₁N₂×L matrix with columns drawn from a 2D oversampled DFTmatrix, as follows.

$\begin{matrix}{u_{m} = \lbrack 1 } & e^{j\frac{2\pi m}{O_{2}N_{2}}} & \ldots & { e^{j\frac{2\pi{m({N_{2} - 1})}}{O_{2}N_{2}}} \rbrack,} \\{v_{l,m} = \lbrack u_{m} } & {e^{j\frac{2\pi l}{O_{1}N_{1}}}u_{m}} & \ldots & { {e^{j\frac{2\pi{l({N_{1} - 1})}}{O_{1}N_{1}}}u_{m}} \rbrack^{T},} \\{B = \lbrack v_{{l}_{0},m_{0}} } & v_{l_{1},m_{1}} & \ldots & { v_{l_{L - 1},m_{L - 1}} \rbrack,}\end{matrix}$ $\begin{matrix}{{l_{i} = {{O_{1}n_{1}^{(i)}} + q_{1}}},} & {{0 \leq n_{1}^{(i)} < N_{1}},} & {{0 \leq q_{1} < {O_{1} - 1}},}\end{matrix}$ $\begin{matrix}{{m_{i} = {{O_{2}n_{2}^{(i)}} + q_{2}}},} & {{0 \leq n_{2}^{(i)} < N_{2}},} & {{0 \leq q_{2} < {O_{2} - 1}},}\end{matrix}$

where the superscript^(T) denotes a matrix transposition operation. Notethat O₁, O₂ oversampling factors are assumed for the 2D DFT matrix fromwhich matrix B is drawn. Note that W₁ is common across all layers. W₂ isa 2L×N₃ matrix, where the i^(th) column corresponds to the linearcombination coefficients of the 2L beams in the i^(th) sub-band. Onlythe indices of the L selected columns of B are reported, along with theoversampling index taking on O₁O₂ values. Note that W₂ are independentfor different layers.

Regarding NR Type-II Codebook, in one embodiment, frequency compressionis applied in conjunction with spatial compression. In addition to thespatial compression of Type-II codebook, an Inverse Discrete Fouriertransform (IDFT)-based CSI compression in the frequency domain isapplied, where each beam of the frequency-domain precoding vectors istransformed using an inverse DFT matrix to the delay domain, and themagnitude and phase values of a subset of the delay-domain coefficientsare selected and fed back to the gong as part of the CSI report. The2N₁N₂×N₃ codebook per layer takes on the form

W=W ₁ {tilde over (W)} ₂ W _(f) ^(H),

where W₁ follows the same design and reporting framework as in Type-IIcodebook. W_(f) is an N₃×M matrix (M<N₃) with columns selected from acritically-sampled size-N₃ DFT matrix, as follows

$\begin{matrix}{W_{f} = \lbrack f_{k_{0}} } & f_{k_{1}} & \ldots & { f_{k_{M - 1}} \rbrack,} & {{0 \leq k_{i} < {N_{3} - 1}},} \\{f_{k} = \lbrack 1 } & e^{{- j}\frac{2\pi k}{N_{3}}} & \cdots & e^{{{{- j}\frac{2\pi{k({N_{3} - 1})}}{N_{3}}}\rbrack}^{T}.} & \end{matrix}$

For W_(f), in one embodiment, only the indices of the M selected columnsout of the predefined size-N₃ DFT matrix are reported. Hence, L, Mrepresent the equivalent spatial and frequency dimensions aftercompression, respectively. Finally, the 2L×M matrix {tilde over (W)}₂represents the linear combination coefficients (LCCs) of the spatial andfrequency DFT-basis vectors. Both are {tilde over (W)}₂ and W_(f) andindependent for different layers. Magnitude and phase values of anapproximately β fraction of the 2LM available coefficients are reportedto the gNB (β<1) as part of the CSI report. In one embodiment,coefficients with zero magnitude are indicated via a per-layer bitmap.Since all coefficients reported within a layer are normalized withrespect to the coefficient with the largest magnitude (strongestcoefficient), the relative value of that coefficient is set to unity,and no magnitude or phase information is explicitly reported for thiscoefficient. Only an indication of the index of the strongestcoefficient per layer is reported Hence, for a single-layertransmission, magnitude and phase values of a maximum of ┌2βLM┐−1coefficients (along with the indices of selected L, M DFT vectors) arereported per layer, leading to significant reduction in CSI report size,compared with reporting 2N₁N₂×N₃−1 coefficients' information.

For Type-II Port Selection codebook, in one embodiment, only K (whereK≤2N₁N₂) beamformed CSI-RS ports are utilized in DL transmission, inorder to reduce complexity. The. The K×N₃ codebook matrix per layertakes on the form

W=W ₁ ^(PS) {tilde over (W)} ₂ W _(f) ^(H).

Here, {tilde over (W)}₂ and W₃ follow the same structure as theconventional NR Type-II Codebook, and are layer specific. W₁ is a K×2Lblock-diagonal matrix with two identical diagonal blocks, i.e.,

${W_{1}^{PS} = \begin{bmatrix}E & 0 \\0 & E\end{bmatrix}},$

and E is an

$\frac{K}{2} \times L$

matrix whose columns are standard unit vectors, as follows.

E=[e _(mod(m) _(PS) _(d) _(PS) _(,K/2)) ^((K/2)) e _(mod(m) _(PS) _(d)_(PS) _(+1,K/2)) ^((K/2)) e _(mod(m) _(PS) _(d) _(PS) _(+L−1,K/2))^((K/2))],

where e_(i) ^((K)) is a standard unit vector with a 1 at the i^(th)location. Here d_(PS) is an RRC parameter which takes on the values{1,2,3,4} under the condition d_(PS)≤min(K/2, L), whereas m_(PS) takeson the values {0, . . . , ┌K/2d_(PS)┐−1} and is reported as part of theUL CSI feedback overhead. W₁ is common across all layers.

For K=16, L=4 and d_(PS)=1, the 8 possible realizations of Ecorresponding to m_(PS)={0,1, . . . ,7} are as follows

$\begin{bmatrix}1 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 1 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 1 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 1 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0\end{bmatrix},\begin{bmatrix}0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\1 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 1 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 1 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 1 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0\end{bmatrix},\begin{bmatrix}0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\1 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 1 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 1 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 1 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0\end{bmatrix},\begin{bmatrix}0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\1 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 1 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 1 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 1 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0\end{bmatrix},\begin{bmatrix}0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\1 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 1 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 1 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 1\end{bmatrix}$ $\begin{bmatrix}0 & 0 & 0 & 1 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\1 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 1 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 1 & 0\end{bmatrix},\begin{bmatrix}0 & 0 & 1 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 1 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\1 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 1 & 0 & 0\end{bmatrix},{\begin{bmatrix}0 & 1 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 1 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 1 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\1 & 0 & 0 & 0\end{bmatrix}.}$

When d_(PS)=2, the 4 possible realizations of E corresponding tom_(PS)={0,1,2,3} are as follows

$\begin{bmatrix}1 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 1 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 1 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 1 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0\end{bmatrix},\begin{bmatrix}0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\1 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 1 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 1 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 1 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0\end{bmatrix},\begin{bmatrix}0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\1 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 1 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 1 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 1\end{bmatrix},{\begin{bmatrix}0 & 0 & 1 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 1 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\1 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 1 & 0 & 0\end{bmatrix}.}$

When d_(PS)=3, the 3 possible realizations of E corresponding ofm_(PS)={0,1,2} are as follows

$\begin{bmatrix}1 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 1 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 1 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 1 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0\end{bmatrix},\begin{bmatrix}0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\1 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 1 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 1 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 1 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0\end{bmatrix},{\begin{bmatrix}0 & 0 & 1 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 1 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\1 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 1 & 0 & 0\end{bmatrix}.}$

When d_(PS)=4, the 2 possible realizations of E corresponding ofm_(PS)={0,1} are as follows

$\begin{bmatrix}1 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 1 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 1 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 1 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0\end{bmatrix},{\begin{bmatrix}0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\1 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 1 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 1 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 0 & 1\end{bmatrix}.}$

To summarize, in one embodiment, m_(PS) parametrizes the location of thefirst 1 in the first column of E, whereas d_(PS) represents the rowshift corresponding to different values of m_(PS).

In one embodiment, NR Type-I codebook is the baseline codebook for NR,with a variety of configurations. The most common utility of Type-Icodebook is a special case of NR Type-II codebook with L=1 for RI=1,2,wherein a phase coupling value is reported for each sub-band, i.e., W₂is 2×N₃, with the first row equal to [1, 1, . . . , 1] and the secondrow equal to [e^(j2πØ) ⁰ , . . . , e^(j2πØ) ^(N3-1) ]. Under specificconfigurations, ϕ₀=ϕ₁ . . . =ϕ, i.e., wideband reporting. For RI>2different beams are used for each pair of layers. Obviously, NR Type-Icodebook can be depicted as a low-resolution version of NR Type-IIcodebook with spatial beam selection per layer-pair and phase combiningonly.

Regarding codebook reporting, in one embodiment, the codebook report ispartitioned into two parts based on the priority of informationreported. Each part is encoded separately (Part 1 has a possibly highercode rate). Below are parameters for NR Type-II codebook:

-   -   Part 1: RI+CQI+Total number of coefficients    -   Part 2: SD basis indicator+FD basis        indicator/layer+Bitmap/layer+Coefficient Amplitude        info/layer+Coefficient Phase info/layer+Strongest coefficient        indicator/layer

Furthermore, in one embodiment, Part 2 CSI can be decomposed intosub-parts each with different priority (higher priority informationlisted first). Such partitioning is required to allow dynamic reportingsize for codebook based on available resources in the uplink phase.

Also Type-I— codebook, in one embodiment, is based on aperiodic CSIreporting, and only reported in PUSCH via DCI triggering (oneexception). Type-I codebook can be based on periodic CSI reporting(PUCCH) or semi-persistent CSI reporting (PUSCH or PUCCH) or aperiodicreporting (PUSCH).

Regarding priority reporting for part 2 CSI, in one embodiment, multipleCSI reports may be transmitted, as shown in Table 1 below:

TABLE 1 CSI Reports priority ordering Priority 0: For CSI reports 1 toN_(Rep), Group 0 CSI for CSI reports configured as ‘typeII-r16’ or‘typeII-PortSelection-r16’; Part 2 wideband CSI for CSI reportsconfigured otherwise Priority 1: Group 1 CSI for CSI report 1, ifconfigured as ‘typeII-r16’ or ‘typeII- PortSelection-r16’; Part 2subband CSI of even subbands for CSI report 1, if configured otherwisePriority 2: Group 2 CSI for CSI report 1, if configured as ‘typeII-r16’or ‘typeII- PortSelection-r16’; Part 2 subband CSI of odd subbands forCSI report 1, if configured otherwise Priority 3: Group 1 CSI for CSIreport 2, if configured as ‘typeII-r16’ or ‘typeII- PortSelection-r16’;Part 2 subband CSI of even subbands for CSI report 2, if configuredotherwise Priority 4: Group 2 CSI for CSI report 2, if configured as‘typeII-r16’ or ‘typeII- PortSelection-r16’. Part 2 subband CSI of oddsubbands for CSI report 2, if configured otherwise Priority 2N_(Rep) −1: Group 1 CSI for CSI report N_(Rep), if configured as ‘typeII-r16’ or‘typeII-PortSelection-r16’; Part 2 subband CSI of even subbands for CSIreport N_(Rep), if configured otherwise Priority 2N_(Rep): Group 2 CSIfor CSI report N_(Rep), if configured as ‘typeII-r16’ or‘typeII-PortSelection-r16’; Part 2 subband CSI of odd subbands for CSIreport N_(Rep), if configured otherwise

Note that the priority of the NRep CSI reports are based on thefollowing

-   -   A CSI report corresponding to one CSI reporting configuration        for one cell may have higher priority compared with another CSI        report corresponding to one other CSI reporting configuration        for the same cell    -   CSI reports intended to one cell may have higher priority        compared with other CSI reports intended to another cell    -   CSI reports may have higher priority based on the CSI report        content, e.g., CSI reports carrying L1-RSRP information have        higher priority    -   CSI reports may have higher priority based on their type, e.g.,        whether the CSI report is aperiodic, semi-persistent or        periodic, and whether the report is sent via PUSCH or PUCCH, may        impact the priority of the CSI report

In light of that, CSI reports may be prioritized as follows, where CSIreports with lower IDs have higher priority

Pri _(iCSI)(y,k,c,s)=2·N _(cells) ·M _(s) ·y+N _(cells) ·M _(s) ·k+M_(s) ·c+s

s: CSI reporting configuration index, and M_(s): Maximum number of CSIreporting configurations

c: Cell index, and N_(cells): Number of serving cells

k: 0 for CSI reports carrying L1-RSRP or L1-SINR, 1 otherwise

y: 0 for aperiodic reports, 1 for semi-persistent reports on PUSCH, 2for semi-persistent reports on PUCCH, 3 for periodic reports.

Regarding triggering aperiodic CSI reporting on PUSCH, in oneembodiment, for multi-TRP NCJT transmission, in one embodiment, twoembodiments may be used (see FIG. 2 ):

-   -   Either one downlink scheduling assignment is sent from one TRP,        that schedules two PDSCH transmissions from two TRPs        respectively. Only one TB can be transmitted, whose layers are        divided across the two scheduled PDSCHs.    -   Two downlink scheduling assignments are sent, with one        scheduling DCI from each TRP. Each DCI schedules a PDSCH        transmission from the corresponding TRP. In this case, one or        more TBs can be transmitted from every TRP according to the rank        of the channel from every TRP.

In one embodiment, the UE needs to report the needed CSI information forthe network using the CSI framework in NR Release 15. From a UEperspective, CSI reporting is independent of what NCJT scheme is used onthe downlink. The triggering mechanism between a report setting and aresource setting can be summarized in Table 2 below:

TABLE 2 Triggering mechanism between a report setting and a resourcesetting Periodic AP CSI CSI Re- reporting SP CSI reporting porting TimeDomain Periodic RRC MAC CE (PUCCH) DCI Behavior of CSI-RS configured DCI(PUSCH) Resource SP CSI-RS Not MAC CE (PUCCH) DCI Setting Supported DCI(PUSCH) AP CSI-RS Not Not Supported DCI Supported

Moreover, in some embodiments,

-   -   All associated Resource Settings for a CSI Report Setting need        to have same time domain behavior.    -   Periodic CSI-RS/IM resource and CSI reports are always assumed        to be present and active once configured by RRC    -   Aperiodic and semi-persistent CSI-RS/IM resources and CSI        reports needs to be explicitly triggered or activated.    -   Aperiodic CSI-RS/IM resources and aperiodic CSI reports, the        triggering is done jointly by transmitting a DCI Format 0-1.    -   Semi-persistent CSI-RS/IM resources and semi-persistent CSI        reports are independently activated.

For multi-TRP NCJT, in one embodiment, aperiodic CSI reporting is likelyto be triggered to inform the network about the channel conditions forevery transmission hypothesis, since using periodic CSI-RS for the TRPsin the coordination cluster constitutes a large overhead. As mentionedearlier, for aperiodic CSI-RS/IM resources and aperiodic CSI reports,the triggering is done jointly by transmitting a DCI Format 0-1. The DCIFormat 0_1 contains a CSI request field (0 to 6 bits). A non-zerorequest field points to a so-called aperiodic trigger state configuredby remote resource control (“RRC”), as shown in FIG. 4 . FIG. 4 is adiagram 400 illustrating one embodiment of an aperiodic trigger statedefining a list of CSI report settings. Specifically, the diagram 400includes a DCI format 0_1 402, a CSI request codepoint 404, and anaperiodic trigger state 2 406. Moreover, the aperiodic trigger state 2includes a ReportConfigID x 408, a ReportConfigID y 410, and aReportConfigID z 412. An aperiodic trigger state in turn is defined as alist of up to 16 aperiodic CSI Report Settings, identified by a CSIReport Setting ID for which the UE calculates simultaneously CSI andtransmits it on the scheduled PUSCH transmission.

In one embodiment, if the CSI report setting is linked with aperiodicresource setting (e.g., may include multiple resource sets), theaperiodic NZP CSI-RS resource set for channel measurement, the aperiodicCSI-IM resource set (if used) and the aperiodic NZP CSI-RS resource setfor IM (if used) to use for a given CSI report setting are also includedin the aperiodic trigger state definition, as shown in FIG. 5 . Foraperiodic NZP CSI-RS, quasi-co-location (“QCL”) source may be configuredin the aperiodic trigger state. The UE may assume that the resourcesused for the computation of the channel and interference can beprocessed with the same spatial filter e.g., quasi-co-located withrespect to “QCL-TypeD.”

FIG. 5 is a code sample 500 illustrating one embodiment of the processby which an aperiodic trigger state indicates a resource set and QCLinformation.

FIG. 6 is a code sample 600 illustrating one embodiment of an RRCconfiguration including an non-zero power channel state informationreference signal (“NZP-CSI-RS”) resource 602 and a CSI-IM-resource 604.

Table 3 shows the type of uplink channels used for CSI reporting as afunction of the CSI codebook type:

TABLE 1 Uplink channels used for CSI reporting as a function of the CSIcodebook type Periodic CSI AP CSI reporting SP CSI reporting reportingType I WB PUCCH Format 2, 3, 4 PUCCH Format 2 PUSCH PUSCH Type I SBPUCCH Format 3, 4 PUSCH PUSCH Type II WB PUCCH Format 3, 4 PUSCH PUSCHType II SB PUSCH PUSCH Type II Part 1 PUCCH Format 3, 4 only

For aperiodic CSI reporting, in one embodiment, PUSCH-based reports aredivided into two CSI parts: CSI Part1 and CSI Part 2. The reason forthis is that the size of CSI payload varies significantly, and thereforea worst-case UCI payload size design would result in large overhead.

In one embodiment, CSI Part 1 has a fixed payload size (and can bedecoded by the gNB without prior information) and contains thefollowing:

-   -   RI (if reported), CRI (if reported) and CQI for the first        codeword,    -   number of non-zero wideband amplitude coefficients per layer for        Type II CSI feedback on PUSCH.

In one embodiment, CSI Part 2 has a variable payload size that can bederived from the CSI parameters in CSI Part 1 and contains PMI and theCQI for the second codeword when RI >4.

For example, if the aperiodic trigger state indicated by DCI format 0_1defines 3 report settings x, y, and z, then the aperiodic CSI reportingfor CSI part 2 will be ordered as indicated in FIG. 7 .

FIG. 7 is a schematic block diagram 700 illustrating one embodiment of apartial CSI omission for PUSCH-based CSI. The diagram 700 includes aReportConfigID x 702, a ReportConfigID y 704, and a ReportConfigID z706. Moreover, the diagram 700 includes a first report 708 (e.g.,requested quantities to be reported) corresponding to the ReportConfigIDx 702, a second report 710 (e.g., requested quantities to be reported)corresponding to the ReportConfigID y 704, and a third report 712 (e.g.,requested quantities to be reported) corresponding to the ReportConfigIDz 706. Each of the first report 708, the second report 710, and thethird report 712 includes a CSI part 1 720, and a CSI part 2 722. Anordering 723 of CSI part 2 across reports is CSI part 2 of the firstreport 724, CSI part 2 of the second report 726, and CSI part 2 of thethird report 728. Moreover, the CSI part 2 reports may produce a report1 WB CSI 734, a report 2 WB CSI 736, a report 3 WB CSI 438, a report 1even SB CSI 740, a report 1 odd SB CSI 742, a report 2 even SB CSI 744,a report 2 odd SB CSI 746, a report 3 even SB CSI 748, and a report 3odd SB CSI 750.

In various embodiments, CSI reports may be prioritized according to: 1)time-domain behavior and physical channel where more dynamic reports aregiven precedence over less dynamic reports and PUSCH has precedence overPUCCH; 2) CSI content where beam reports (e.g., L1-RSRP reporting) havepriority over regular CSI reports; 3) a serving cell to which a CSIcorresponds (e.g., for CA operation)—CSI corresponding to a PCell haspriority over CSI corresponding to Scells; and/or 4) a reportconfiguration identifier (e.g., reportConfigID). In such embodiments,the ordering may not take into account that some multi-TRP NCJTtransmission hypothesis, as measured by the UE, may achieve low spectralefficiency performance and may be given a lower priority.

Regarding UCI bit sequence generation, in one embodiment, the RankIndicator (“RI”), if reported, has bitwidth of min(┌log₂ N_(ports)┐,┌log₂ n_(RI)┐), where N_(ports), n_(RI) represent the number of antennaports and the number of allowed rank indicator values, respectively. Onthe other hand, the CSI-RS Resource Indicator (“CRI”) and theSynchronization Signal Block Resource Indicator (“SSBRI”) each havebitwidths of ┌log₂ K_(s) ^(CSI-RS)┐, ┌log₂ K_(s) ^(SSB)┐, respectively,where K_(s) ^(CSI-RS) is the number of CSI-RS resources in thecorresponding resource set, and K_(s) ^(SSB) is the configured number ofSS/PBCH blocks in the corresponding resource set for reporting‘ssb-Index-RSRP’. The mapping order of CSI fields of one CSI report withwideband PMI and wideband CQI on PUCCH is depicted in Table 2, is asfollows:

TABLE 2 Mapping order of CSI fields of one CSI report with wideband PMIand CQI on PUCCH CSI report number CSI fields CSI report CRI, ifreported #n Rank Indicator, if reported Layer Indicator, if reportedZero padding bits, if needed PMI wideband information fields, ifreported PMI wideband information, if reported Wideband CQI for thefirst Transport Block, if reported Wideband CQI for the second TransportBlock, if reported

Several embodiments of the proposed solution are described below.According to a possible embodiment, one or more elements or featuresfrom one or more of the described embodiments may be combined, e.g., forCSI measurement, feedback generation and/or reporting which may reducethe overall CSI feedback overhead.

In one embodiment, there are a number of assumptions related to theproblem to be solved, which may include:

-   -   For ease of exposition, hereafter we use the notion of a “TRP”        in a general fashion to include at least one of TRPs, Panels,        communication (e.g., signals/channels) associated with a CORESET        (control resource set) pool, communication associated with a        transmission configuration indicator (“TCI”) state from a        transmission configuration comprising at least two TCI states.    -   The codebook type used is arbitrary; flexibility for use        different codebook types (Type-I and Type-II codebooks), unless        otherwise stated.    -   At least aperiodic CSI reporting on PUSCH is supported. Other        CSI reporting configuration type such as semi-persistent CSI        reporting on PUSCH may also be used.

In one embodiment, a UE is configured by higher layers with one or moreCSI-ReportConfig Reporting Settings for CSI reporting, one or moreCSI-ResourceConfig Resource Settings for CSI measurement, and one or twolist(s) of trigger states (given by the higher layer parametersCSI-AperiodicTriggerStateList andCSI-SemiPersistentOnPUSCH-TriggerStateList). Each trigger state inCSI-AperiodicTriggerStateList, in one embodiment, may contain a list ofa subset of the associated CSI-ReportConfigs indicating the Resource SetIDs for channel and optionally for interference. Each trigger state inCSI-SemiPersistentOnPUSCH-TriggerStateList may contain one or moreassociated CSI-ReportConfig.

In general, in one embodiment, the network indicates to the UE thatmulti-TRP/Panel CSI feedback reporting is required and/or the networksends CSI-RS from more than one TRP/Panel, or both, through one or moreCSI-ReportConfig Report Settings via using a combination of one or moreof the following indications:

-   -   Introduce, in one embodiment, a higher-layer parameter in        CSI-ReportConfig in one or more CSI-ReportConfig Report Settings        that, when configured, CSI framework follows that of mTRP        transmission, e.g., mTRPCSIEnabled or multiHypothesisCSIEnabled.        An example of the ASN.1 code that corresponds to this setup is        provided in FIG. 8A for the CSI-ReportConfig Report Setting        Information Element (“IE”).    -   Include, in one embodiment, an additional higher layer parameter        for CSI-RS Resources for Channel Measurement that is similar to        the higher-layer parameter resourcesForChannelMeasurement in        CSI-ReportConfig Report Setting, e.g.,        resourcesForChannellMeasurement, which can be set to similar        values to the parameter resourcesForChannelMeasurement. An        example of the ASN.1 code that corresponds to this setup is        provided in FIG. 8B for the CSI-ReportConfig Report Setting        Information Element (“IE”).    -   Introduce, in one embodiment, additional values for        reportQuantity in CSI-ReportConfig, e.g., ‘2cri-2RI-2PMI-CQI’.        An example of the ASN.1 code that corresponds to this setup is        provided in FIG. 8C for the CSI-ReportConfig Report Setting        Information Element (“IE”).    -   Introduce, in one embodiment, an additional higher-layer        parameter for CSI reporting quantity that is similar to the        higher-layer parameter reportQuantity in CSI-ReportConfig Report        Setting, e.g., reportQuantity1, which can be set to similar        values to the parameter reportQuantity. An example of the ASN.1        code that corresponds to this setup is provided in FIG. 8D for        the CSI-ReportConfig Report Setting Information Element (“IE”).

In one embodiment, whenever the Reporting Setting includes joint TRPtransmission as a possible scheme, e.g., when one or more of theindications as shown in Section 3.2.1 are triggered or configured, theNZP CSI-RS Resource that is configured by the higher-layer parameterresourcesForChannelMeasurement in one or more CSI-ReportConfig ReportSettings will also be automatically configured for interferencemeasurement by the higher-layer parameternzp-CSI-RS-ResourcesForInterference corresponding to one or more otherCSI-ReportConfig Report Settings, or one or more other report quantitiesreportQuantity in the same CSI-ReportConfig Report Setting.

In one example embodiment, the ASN.1 code for the CSI Report Settingfollows that in FIG. 8D, wherein the reportQuantity Report quantityassumes the resourcesForChannelMeasurement Resource Setting is forchannel measurement and reporting, whereas thenzp-CSI-RS-ResourcesForInterference is for interference measurement andreporting. On the other hand, reportQuantity1 Report quantity assumesthe nzp-CSI-RS-ResourcesForInterference Resource Setting is for channelmeasurement and reporting, whereas the resourcesForChannelMeasurement isfor interference measurement and reporting.

In one embodiment, a UE can report no more than eight CSI reportssimultaneously, whether periodic, semi-persistent, or aperiodic per CC,across all codebook types. In one embodiment, one may include anexception for CSI reporting quantities that does not include a PMI, orat least only includes wideband parameter indicators, e.g., i1. A new UEfeature that indicates the number of CSI reports that can be transmittedpartially, as shown, e.g., without PMI being reported may also beindicated.

An example of such an embodiment is provided in Table 3 for the UEfeature list for CSI report framework, as follows. A new UE featuregroup (and feature Index) may be created (e.g., Extension of UE CSIprocessing capability) with the highlighted components (components 4 and5) and pre-requisite feature groups 2-35 and possibly 16-7. In oneexample, the UE feature group may only include the subset of component 4and 5-UE can process Y2 CSI report(s) that do not include the reportquantity PMI simultaneously in a CC of component 4 and UE can process X2CSI report(s) that do not include the report quantity PMI simultaneouslyacross all CCs of component 5. The UE full CSI report processingcapability may be described in a different feature group.

TABLE 3 Example of a UE feature list for CSI report frameworkPrerequisite Field name in Index Feature group Components feature groupsTS 38.331 2-35 CSI report framework 1. Maximum number of periodic CSI2-32 csi-ReportFramework{ report setting per BWP for CSI report 1.maxNumberPeriodicCSI- 1a. Maximum number of periodic CSIPerBWP-ForCSI-Report report setting per BWP for beam report 1a.maxNumberPeriodicCSI- 2. Maximum number of aperiodic CSIPerBWP-ForBeamReport report setting per BWP for CSI report 2.maxNumberAperiodicCSI- 2a. Maximum number of aperiodic CSIPerBWP-ForCSI-Report report setting per BWP for beam report 2a.maxNumberAperiodicCSI- 2b. Maximum number of configuredPerBWP-ForBeamReport aperiodic CSI triggering states in 2b.maxNumberAperiodicCSI- CSI-AperiodicTriggerStateList per CC,triggeringStatePerCC 3. Maximum number of semi-persistent 3.maxNumberSemiPersistentCSI- CSI report setting per BWP for CSI reportPerBWP-ForCSI-Report 3a. Maximum number of semi-persistent CSI 3b.maxNumberSemiPersistentCSI- report setting per BWP for beam reportPerBWP-ForBeamReport 4. UE can process Y1 full CSI report(s) 4.simultaneousCSI- and Y2 CSI report(s) that do not include ReportsPerCC}the report quantity PMI simultaneously 5. reportsimultaneousCSI- in aCC. CSI reports can be P/SP/A ReportsAllCC CSI and any latency class andcodebook type. 5. UE can process X1 full CSI report(s) and X2 CSIreport(s) that do not include the report quantity PMI simultaneouslyacross all CCs. CSI reports can be P/SP/A CSI and any latency class andcodebook type. 16-7 Extension of the maximum Extension of the maximumnumber of 2-32 number of configured configured aperiodic CSI reportaperiodic CSI report settings for all codebook types settings Parent inMandatory/ Index TS 38.331 Note Optional 2-35 MIMO-ParametersPerBandOther MIMO capabilities than component 5 may Mandatory with capabilitysignaling Phy-ParametersFRX-Diff further restrict (reduce) the number ofComponent-1 candidate values: (for FR1 + FR2 band simultaneously CSIreport that UE is required {1, 2, 3, 4} combination) to update The CSIreport in component 4 and 5 Component-1a candidate values:CA-ParametersNR-v1540 includes the beam report and CSI report {1, 2, 3,4} Each component is independent CSI report Component-2 candidate valuessetting are counted in the CC indicated by the {1, 2, 3, 4} parametercarrier in CSI-ResourceConfig Component-2a candidate values {1, 2, 3, 4}Component-2b candidate values {3, 7, 15, 31, 63, 128} Component-3candidate values: {0, 1, 2, 3, 4} Component-3a candidate values: {0, 1,2, 3, 4} Component-4 candidate values for Y1: {from 1 to 8} candidatevalues for Y2: {from 1 to 8} Component-5 candidate values for X1: {from5 to 32} candidate values for X2: {from 5 to 32} 16-7 Optional withcapability signaling Candidate values: {1 to 8}

In one embodiment, one CSI-ReportConfig Report Setting may include oneor more of a subset of CSI Report Configurations and a subset of CSIfeedback parameters that can be used in common for both single-TRPtransmission and joint transmission. Different examples of suchconfigurations and/or parameters are provided below. Considering a setupwith a combination of one or more of the following examples is notprecluded.

In one example, the RI rank indicator report quantity may be common forboth single-TRP and m-TRP transmission.

In another example, the higher-layer parametercsi-IM-ResourcesForInterference interference measurement resourcesetting for interference management may be reused for both single-TRPtransmission and joint transmission.

In yet another example, the wideband indication (e.g., i1 in Clause5.2.2.2 of 3GPP TS 38.214) used as part of the PMI for a given TRP iscommon for both single-TRP transmission and joint transmission involvingthe given TRP.

In one embodiment, in the case of joint TRP transmission, the rankindicating the number of layers transmitted from each of the two TRPsmay be fed back in terms of a conventional RI rank indicator thatindicates the total number of layers transmitted across both TRPs, inaddition to an extra one-bit indicator, denoted here by λ, thatindicates whether TRP1 or TRP2 has more layers. Denoted by RI, RI₁ andRI₂, the total number of layers reported for both TRPs, the number oflayers reported for the first TRP and the number of layers reported forthe second TRP, respectively, i.e., RI=RI₁+RI₂. Here the per-TRP numberof layers may be restricted such that |RI₁-RI₂|≤1. Thereby, the one-bitindicator λ may be fed back as shown in the following example:

-   -   If RI=x where x is an odd number and RI>RI₂, e.g., RI₁=3, RI₂=2,        then λ=1.    -   If RI=x where x is an odd number and RI₁<RI₂, e.g., RI₁=2,        RI₂=3, then λ=0.    -   If RI=x where x is an even number, e.g., RI₁=3, RI₂=3, then the        value of λ is dummy, i.e., not used.

Thereby, in one embodiment, if a UE is configured with a single DCItriggering one or more CSI report settings with at least one ReportSetting including a non-null CSI report quantity, an additional bit maybe fed back that indicates the decomposition of the rank indicatoracross the TRPs, wherein this additional bit is dummy whenever the rankindicator value is an even number.

In one embodiment, whenever one or more Reporting Settings triggering aUE include a joint TRP transmission hypothesis, e.g., one or more of theindications described above are triggered or configured, a subset of theCSI-ReportConfig Report Settings triggering a UE may have thehigher-layer parameter reportQuantity set to ‘null.’ If so, one or moreof the CSI report settings that are not included in the aforementionedsubset may have the higher-layer parameter reportQuantity inCSI-ReportConfig set to a value that includes two or more quantities ofeach of the PMI, RI, CRI, i1, if reported.

In one embodiment, all CSI Resource Settings linked to a CSI ReportSetting may have the same time domain behavior, unless the ReportingSetting includes a joint TRP transmission hypothesis, e.g., when one ormore of the indications described above are triggered or configured.

Different embodiments of indication of multi-TRP CSI feedback undermulti-DCI triggering in a TRP specific manner (e.g., each DCI receivedin a control resource set (“CORESET”) pool (e.g., group of CORESETwithin which a control channel DCI is received) referenced with aCORESET pool index corresponding to a TRP) are described below.Considering a setup with a combination of one or more of the followingembodiments is not precluded.

In one embodiment, a UE reports CSI feedback corresponding to jointtransmission with multi-TRP whenever the UE receives two DCIs sent fromtwo TRPs, wherein each of the DCIs includes one or more CSI-ReportConfigReport Settings, and wherein the two DCIs are received within X slots,where X is either fixed, higher-layer configured, or indicated by the UEor with UE assistance.

In another embodiment, a UE reports CSI feedback corresponding to jointtransmission with multi-TRP whenever the UE receives two DCIs sent fromtwo TRPs, wherein each of the DCIs includes one or more CSI-ReportConfigReport Settings, and wherein one or more of the CSI Report quantity andcodebook for one TRP are configured to be fed back within Y slots offeeding back one or more of the CSI Report quantity and codebook for theother TRP, where Y is either fixed, higher-layer configured, orindicated by the UE or with UE assistance.

In yet another embodiment, a UE reports CSI feedback corresponding tojoint transmission with multi-TRP whenever the UE receives two DCIs sentfrom two TRPs, wherein each of the DCIs includes one or moreCSI-ReportConfig Report Settings, and wherein one or moreCSI-ReportConfig Report Settings configured by one TRP includes theidentification number of one or more Report Settings configured byanother TRP.

In another embodiment, a UE reports CSI feedback corresponding to jointtransmission with multi-TRP whenever the UE receives two DCIs sent fromtwo TRPs, wherein each of the DCIs includes one or more CSI-ReportConfigReport Settings, and wherein one or more CSI-ReportConfig ReportSettings includes a joint TRP transmission hypothesis indication, e.g.,one or more of the indications described above.

Note that CSI reporting under joint TRP transmission may be triggeredwith either a single DCI or two DCIs, one sent from each TRP, based onthe capacity of the backhaul link between both TRPs, and/or otherfactors. Assuming joint TRP transmission hypotheses wherein two out ofthree TRPs are selected for joint transmission (extension to a biggerpool of TRPs follows the same argument), one can decompose the CSIreporting into six partitions under three transmission hypotheses, asfollows:

-   -   CSI report 1: dedicated to TRP1 under joint transmission with        TRP2. Hypothesis A;    -   CSI report 2: dedicated to TRP1 under joint transmission with        TRP3. Hypothesis B;    -   CSI report 3: dedicated to TRP2 under joint transmission with        TRP1. Hypothesis A;    -   CSI report 4: dedicated to TRP2 under joint transmission with        TRP3. Hypothesis C;    -   CSI report 5: dedicated to TRP3 under joint transmission with        TRP1. Hypothesis B;    -   CSI report 6: dedicated to TRP3 under joint transmission with        TRP2. Hypothesis C;

In one embodiment, under single DCI triggering, e.g., Report Settingsconfigured from all TRPs are indicated with the same DCI, it may bebeneficial if each report setting configures one of the hypotheses, forexample:

-   -   CSI-ReportConfig Report Setting I: Configures CSI Reports 1, 3        for TRP1 & TRP2 respectively under Hypothesis A;    -   CSI-ReportConfig Report Setting II: Configures CSI Reports 2, 5        for TRP1 & TRP3 respectively under Hypothesis B;    -   CSI-ReportConfig Report Setting III: Configures CSI Reports 4, 6        for TRP2 & TRP3 respectively under Hypothesis C.

On the other hand, under multi-DCI triggering, e.g., Report Settingsconfigured from each TRP is indicated with one DCI, it may be beneficialif each report setting configures CSI reports corresponding to one TRPacross the three hypotheses, for example:

-   -   CSI-ReportConfig Report Setting I: Configures CSI Reports 1, 2        for TRP1 under Hypotheses A, B respectively;    -   CSI-ReportConfig Report Setting II: Configures CSI Reports 3, 4        for TRP2 under Hypotheses A, C respectively;    -   CSI-ReportConfig Report Setting III: Configures CSI Reports 5, 6        for TRP3 under Hypotheses B, C respectively.

Thereby, in one embodiment, a UE is configured with one or more CSIreport settings that trigger the feedback of one or more CSI reports,wherein the plurality of each of the PMI, CQI, RI of each Report Settingall belong to the same TRP whenever the DCI triggering is TRP-specific,and wherein the plurality of each of the PMI, CQI, RI of each ReportSetting belong to the same transmission hypothesis whenever the DCItriggering is TRP-common.

In some embodiments, the terms antenna, panel, and antenna panel areused interchangeably. An antenna panel may be a hardware that is usedfor transmitting and/or receiving radio signals at frequencies lowerthan 6 GHz, e.g., frequency range 1 (“FR1”), or higher than 6 GHz, e.g.,frequency range 2 (“FR2”) or millimeter wave (mmWave). In someembodiments, an antenna panel may comprise an array of antenna elements,wherein each antenna element is connected to hardware such as a phaseshifter that allows a control module to apply spatial parameters fortransmission and/or reception of signals. The resulting radiationpattern may be called a beam, which may or may not be unimodal and mayallow the device to amplify signals that are transmitted or receivedfrom spatial directions.

In some embodiments, an antenna panel may or may not be virtualized asan antenna port in the specifications. An antenna panel may be connectedto a baseband processing module through a radio frequency (“RF”) chainfor each of transmission (egress) and reception (ingress) directions. Acapability of a device in terms of the number of antenna panels, theirduplexing capabilities, their beamforming capabilities, and so on, mayor may not be transparent to other devices. In some embodiments,capability information may be communicated via signaling or, in someembodiments, capability information may be provided to devices without aneed for signaling. In the case that such information is available toother devices, it can be used for signaling or local decision making.

In some embodiments, a device (e.g., UE, node, TRP) antenna panel may bea physical or logical antenna array comprising a set of antenna elementsor antenna ports that share a common or a significant portion of an RFchain (e.g., in-phase/quadrature (“I/Q”) modulator, analog to digital(“A/D”) converter, local oscillator, phase shift network). The deviceantenna panel or “device panel” may be a logical entity with physicaldevice antennas mapped to the logical entity. The mapping of physicaldevice antennas to the logical entity may be up to deviceimplementation. Communicating (receiving or transmitting) on at least asubset of antenna elements or antenna ports active for radiating energy(also referred to herein as active elements) of an antenna panelrequires biasing or powering on of the RF chain which results in currentdrain or power consumption in the device associated with the antennapanel (including power amplifier/low noise amplifier (“LNA”) powerconsumption associated with the antenna elements or antenna ports). Thephrase “active for radiating energy,” as used herein, is not meant to belimited to a transmit function but also encompasses a receive function.Accordingly, an antenna element that is active for radiating energy maybe coupled to a transmitter to transmit radio frequency energy or to areceiver to receive radio frequency energy, either simultaneously orsequentially, or may be coupled to a transceiver in general, forperforming its intended functionality. Communicating on the activeelements of an antenna panel enables generation of radiation patterns orbeams.

In some embodiments, depending on device's own implementation, a “devicepanel” can have at least one of the following functionalities as anoperational role of Unit of antenna group to control its Tx beamindependently, Unit of antenna group to control its transmission powerindependently, Unit of antenna group to control its transmission timingindependently. The “device panel” may be transparent to gNB. For certaincondition(s), gNB or network can assume the mapping between device'sphysical antennas to the logical entity “device panel” may not bechanged. For example, the condition may include until the next update orreport from device or comprise a duration of time over which the gNBassumes there will be no change to the mapping. A Device may report itscapability with respect to the “device panel” to the gNB or network. Thedevice capability may include at least the number of “device panels”. Inone implementation, the device may support UL transmission from one beamwithin a panel; with multiple panels, more than one beam (one beam perpanel) may be used for UL transmission. In another implementation, morethan one beam per panel may be supported/used for UL transmission.

In some of the embodiments described, an antenna port is defined suchthat the channel over which a symbol on the antenna port is conveyed canbe inferred from the channel over which another symbol on the sameantenna port is conveyed.

Two antenna ports are said to be quasi co-located (“QCL”) if thelarge-scale properties of the channel over which a symbol on one antennaport is conveyed can be inferred from the channel over which a symbol onthe other antenna port is conveyed. The large-scale properties includeone or more of delay spread, Doppler spread, Doppler shift, averagegain, average delay, and spatial Rx parameters. Two antenna ports may bequasi-located with respect to a subset of the large-scale properties anddifferent subset of large-scale properties may be indicated by a QCLType. For example, qcl-Type may take one of the following values:

-   -   ‘QCL-TypeA’: {Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay,        delay spread}    -   ‘QCL-TypeB’: {Doppler shift, Doppler spread}    -   ‘QCL-TypeC’: {Doppler shift, average delay}    -   ‘QCL-TypeD’: {Spatial Rx parameter}

Spatial Rx parameters may include one or more of: angle of arrival(“AoA”) Dominant AoA, average AoA, angular spread, Power AngularSpectrum (“PAS”) of AoA, average AoD (angle of departure), PAS of AoD,transmit/receive channel correlation, transmit/receive beamforming,spatial channel correlation, etc.

The QCL-TypeA, QCL-TypeB and QCL-TypeC may be applicable for all carrierfrequencies, but the QCL-TypeD may be applicable only in higher carrierfrequencies (e.g., mmWave, FR2 and beyond), where essentially the UE maynot be able to perform omni-directional transmission, i.e., the UE wouldneed to form beams for directional transmission. A QCL-TypeD between tworeference signals A and B, the reference signal A is considered to bespatially co-located with reference signal B and the UE may assume thatthe reference signals A and B can be received with the same spatialfilter (e.g., with the same RX beamforming weights).

An “antenna port” according to an embodiment may be a logical port thatmay correspond to a beam (resulting from beamforming) or may correspondto a physical antenna on a device. In some embodiments, a physicalantenna may map directly to a single antenna port, in which an antennaport corresponds to an actual physical antenna. Alternately, a set orsubset of physical antennas, or antenna set or antenna array or antennasub-array, may be mapped to one or more antenna ports after applyingcomplex weights, a cyclic delay, or both to the signal on each physicalantenna. The physical antenna set may have antennas from a single moduleor panel or from multiple modules or panels. The weights may be fixed asin an antenna virtualization scheme, such as cyclic delay diversity(“CDD”). The procedure used to derive antenna ports from physicalantennas may be specific to a device implementation and transparent toother devices.

In some of the embodiments described, a TCI-state (TransmissionConfiguration Indication) associated with a target transmission canindicate parameters for configuring a quasi-collocation relationshipbetween the target transmission (e.g., target RS of DM-RS ports of thetarget transmission during a transmission occasion) and a sourcereference signal(s) (e.g., SSB/CSI-RS/SRS) with respect to quasico-location type parameter(s) indicated in the corresponding TCI state.The TCI describes which reference signals are used as QCL source, andwhat QCL properties can be derived from each reference signal. A devicecan receive a configuration of a plurality of transmission configurationindicator states for a serving cell for transmissions on the servingcell. In some of the embodiments described, a TCI state comprises atleast one source RS to provide a reference (UE assumption) fordetermining QCL and/or spatial filter.

In some of the embodiments described, a spatial relation informationassociated with a target transmission can indicate parameters forconfiguring a spatial setting between the target transmission and areference RS (e.g., SSB/CSI-RS/SRS). For example, the device maytransmit the target transmission with the same spatial domain filterused for reception the reference RS (e.g., DL RS such as SSB/CSI-RS). Inanother example, the device may transmit the target transmission withthe same spatial domain transmission filter used for the transmission ofthe reference RS (e.g., UL RS such as SRS). A device can receive aconfiguration of a plurality of spatial relation informationconfigurations for a serving cell for transmissions on the serving cell.

FIG. 9 depicts a user equipment apparatus 900 that may be used forchannel state information reporting for multiple transmit/receivepoints, according to embodiments of the disclosure. In variousembodiments, the user equipment apparatus 900 is used to implement oneor more of the solutions described above. The user equipment apparatus900 may be one embodiment of the remote unit 105 and/or the UE 205,described above. Furthermore, the user equipment apparatus 900 mayinclude a processor 905, a memory 910, an input device 915, an outputdevice 920, and a transceiver 925.

In some embodiments, the input device 915 and the output device 920 arecombined into a single device, such as a touchscreen. In certainembodiments, the user equipment apparatus 900 may not include any inputdevice 915 and/or output device 920. In various embodiments, the userequipment apparatus 900 may include one or more of: the processor 905,the memory 910, and the transceiver 925, and may not include the inputdevice 915 and/or the output device 920.

As depicted, the transceiver 925 includes at least one transmitter 930and at least one receiver 935. In some embodiments, the transceiver 925communicates with one or more cells (or wireless coverage areas)supported by one or more base units 121. In various embodiments, thetransceiver 925 is operable on unlicensed spectrum. Moreover, thetransceiver 925 may include multiple UE panel supporting one or morebeams. Additionally, the transceiver 925 may support at least onenetwork interface 940 and/or application interface 945. The applicationinterface(s) 945 may support one or more APIs. The network interface(s)940 may support 3GPP reference points, such as Uu, N1, PC5, etc. Othernetwork interfaces 940 may be supported, as understood by one ofordinary skill in the art.

The processor 905, in one embodiment, may include any known controllercapable of executing computer-readable instructions and/or capable ofperforming logical operations. For example, the processor 905 may be amicrocontroller, a microprocessor, a central processing unit (“CPU”), agraphics processing unit (“GPU”), an auxiliary processing unit, a fieldprogrammable gate array (“FPGA”), or similar programmable controller. Insome embodiments, the processor 905 executes instructions stored in thememory 910 to perform the methods and routines described herein. Theprocessor 905 is communicatively coupled to the memory 910, the inputdevice 915, the output device 920, and the transceiver 925. In certainembodiments, the processor 905 may include an application processor(also known as “main processor”) which manages application-domain andoperating system (“OS”) functions and a baseband processor (also knownas “baseband radio processor”) which manages radio functions.

In various embodiments, the processor 905 and/or transceiver 925controls the user equipment apparatus 900 to implement the abovedescribed UE behaviors. In one embodiment, the transceiver 925 receives,at a UE, one or more channel state information (“CSI”) reportingconfigurations associated with multiple transmission/reception points(“TRPs”) reporting for a mobile wireless communication network. In oneembodiment, the transceiver 925 receives, at the UE, one or more CSIreference signals (“RSs”) from the mobile wireless communicationnetwork, the one or more CSI-RSs configured for at least one of channelmeasurement and interference measurement. In one embodiment, thetransceiver 925 transmits, from the UE, one or more CSI reportscorresponding to one or more transmission hypotheses based on the atleast one of channel measurements and interference measurements, eachCSI report comprising one or more precoding matrix indicators (“PMIs”)and one or more rank indicators.

In one embodiment, the transceiver 925 further receives at least oneindication from the mobile wireless communication network that multipleTRP reporting is used, the at least one indication comprising aconfiguration parameter that one or more of indicates multiple TRP CSIreporting, includes at least two identifiers corresponding to at leasttwo CSI-RS resources, indicates pair values within a report quantityconfiguration, and indicates a pair of report quantities.

In one embodiment, the processor 905, in response to determining CSI forat least two TRPs, at least one of determines a first report quantity bydetermining the channel measurements based on channel CSI-RS resourcesand the interference measurements based on interference CSI-RS resourcesand determines a second report quantity by determining the channelmeasurements based on interference CSI-RS resources and the interferencemeasurements based on channel CSI-RS resources.

In one embodiment, a number of CSI reports that the UE can process isbased on whether a CSI report comprises a PMI. In one embodiment, asubset of the one or more CSI reporting configurations and reportquantities are common for single TRP transmission and joint TRPtransmission, the subset comprising at least one of a rank indicatorreport quantity, an interference measurement resource setting, and afirst stage of a multi-stage PMI.

In one embodiment, a difference in rank corresponding to at least twoTRPs is no greater than one. In one embodiment, the transceiver 925further transmits a single rank indicator for joint transmission and anadditional bit indicating whether one of a first PMI and a second PMIcomprises more layers.

In one embodiment, the transceiver 925 further receives two CSIreporting configurations associated with the multiple TRPs, the two CSIreporting configurations corresponding to two downlink controlinformation (“DCI”) configurations from at least two TRPs. In oneembodiment, at least one of the two CSI reporting configurations arereceived within a predetermined time window, the two CSI reportingconfigurations are used to configure the UE to provide the CSI reportscorresponding to the two CSI reporting configurations within apredetermined time window, a first of the two CSI reportingconfigurations comprises an identification number referring to a secondof the two CSI reporting configurations, and at least one of the two CSIreporting configurations comprises an indication of multiple TRPtransmission.

In one embodiment, the processor 905 maps CSI reports according to atleast one channel hypothesis in response to receiving at least one CSIreporting configuration and maps CSI reports according to at least onecorresponding TRP in response to receiving at least two CSI reportingconfigurations. In one embodiment, the multiple TRPs correspond to atleast two transmission configuration indicator (“TCI”) states that aremapped to a single TCI codepoint.

The memory 910, in one embodiment, is a computer readable storagemedium. In some embodiments, the memory 910 includes volatile computerstorage media. For example, the memory 910 may include a RAM, includingdynamic RAM (“DRAM”), synchronous dynamic RAM (“SDRAM”), and/or staticRAM (“SRAM”). In some embodiments, the memory 910 includes non-volatilecomputer storage media. For example, the memory 910 may include a harddisk drive, a flash memory, or any other suitable non-volatile computerstorage device. In some embodiments, the memory 910 includes bothvolatile and non-volatile computer storage media.

In some embodiments, the memory 910 stores data related to channel stateinformation reporting for multiple transmit/receive points. For example,the memory 910 may store various parameters, panel/beam configurations,resource assignments, policies, and the like as described above. Incertain embodiments, the memory 910 also stores program code and relateddata, such as an operating system or other controller algorithmsoperating on the user equipment apparatus 900.

The input device 915, in one embodiment, may include any known computerinput device including a touch panel, a button, a keyboard, a stylus, amicrophone, or the like. In some embodiments, the input device 915 maybe integrated with the output device 920, for example, as a touchscreenor similar touch-sensitive display. In some embodiments, the inputdevice 915 includes a touchscreen such that text may be input using avirtual keyboard displayed on the touchscreen and/or by handwriting onthe touchscreen. In some embodiments, the input device 915 includes twoor more different devices, such as a keyboard and a touch panel.

The output device 920, in one embodiment, is designed to output visual,audible, and/or haptic signals. In some embodiments, the output device920 includes an electronically controllable display or display devicecapable of outputting visual data to a user. For example, the outputdevice 920 may include, but is not limited to, an LCD display, an LEDdisplay, an OLED display, a projector, or similar display device capableof outputting images, text, or the like to a user. As another,non-limiting, example, the output device 920 may include a wearabledisplay separate from, but communicatively coupled to, the rest of theuser equipment apparatus 900, such as a smart watch, smart glasses, aheads-up display, or the like. Further, the output device 920 may be acomponent of a smart phone, a personal digital assistant, a television,a table computer, a notebook (laptop) computer, a personal computer, avehicle dashboard, or the like.

In certain embodiments, the output device 920 includes one or morespeakers for producing sound. For example, the output device 920 mayproduce an audible alert or notification (e.g., a beep or chime). Insome embodiments, the output device 920 includes one or more hapticdevices for producing vibrations, motion, or other haptic feedback. Insome embodiments, all, or portions of the output device 920 may beintegrated with the input device 915. For example, the input device 915and output device 920 may form a touchscreen or similar touch-sensitivedisplay. In other embodiments, the output device 920 may be located nearthe input device 915.

The transceiver 925 communicates with one or more network functions of amobile communication network via one or more access networks. Thetransceiver 925 operates under the control of the processor 905 totransmit messages, data, and other signals and also to receive messages,data, and other signals. For example, the processor 905 may selectivelyactivate the transceiver 925 (or portions thereof) at particular timesin order to send and receive messages.

The transceiver 925 includes at least transmitter 930 and at least onereceiver 935. One or more transmitters 930 may be used to provide ULcommunication signals to a base unit 121, such as the UL transmissionsdescribed herein. Similarly, one or more receivers 935 may be used toreceive DL communication signals from the base unit 121, as describedherein. Although only one transmitter 930 and one receiver 935 areillustrated, the user equipment apparatus 900 may have any suitablenumber of transmitters 930 and receivers 935. Further, thetransmitter(s) 930 and the receiver(s) 935 may be any suitable type oftransmitters and receivers. In one embodiment, the transceiver 925includes a first transmitter/receiver pair used to communicate with amobile communication network over licensed radio spectrum and a secondtransmitter/receiver pair used to communicate with a mobilecommunication network over unlicensed radio spectrum.

In certain embodiments, the first transmitter/receiver pair used tocommunicate with a mobile communication network over licensed radiospectrum and the second transmitter/receiver pair used to communicatewith a mobile communication network over unlicensed radio spectrum maybe combined into a single transceiver unit, for example a single chipperforming functions for use with both licensed and unlicensed radiospectrum. In some embodiments, the first transmitter/receiver pair andthe second transmitter/receiver pair may share one or more hardwarecomponents. For example, certain transceivers 925, transmitters 930, andreceivers 935 may be implemented as physically separate components thataccess a shared hardware resource and/or software resource, such as forexample, the network interface 940.

In various embodiments, one or more transmitters 930 and/or one or morereceivers 935 may be implemented and/or integrated into a singlehardware component, such as a multi-transceiver chip, asystem-on-a-chip, an ASIC, or other type of hardware component. Incertain embodiments, one or more transmitters 930 and/or one or morereceivers 935 may be implemented and/or integrated into a multi-chipmodule. In some embodiments, other components such as the networkinterface 940 or other hardware components/circuits may be integratedwith any number of transmitters 930 and/or receivers 935 into a singlechip. In such embodiment, the transmitters 930 and receivers 935 may belogically configured as a transceiver 925 that uses one more commoncontrol signals or as modular transmitters 930 and receivers 935implemented in the same hardware chip or in a multi-chip module.

FIG. 10 depicts a network apparatus 1000 that may be used for channelstate information reporting for multiple transmit/receive points,according to embodiments of the disclosure. In one embodiment, networkapparatus 1000 may be one implementation of a RAN node, such as the baseunit 121, the RAN node 210, or gNB, described above. Furthermore, thebase network apparatus 1000 may include a processor 1005, a memory 1010,an input device 1015, an output device 1020, and a transceiver 1025.

In some embodiments, the input device 1015 and the output device 1020are combined into a single device, such as a touchscreen. In certainembodiments, the network apparatus 1000 may not include any input device1015 and/or output device 1020. In various embodiments, the networkapparatus 1000 may include one or more of: the processor 1005, thememory 1010, and the transceiver 1025, and may not include the inputdevice 1015 and/or the output device 1020.

As depicted, the transceiver 1025 includes at least one transmitter 1030and at least one receiver 1035. Here, the transceiver 1025 communicateswith one or more remote units 105. Additionally, the transceiver 1025may support at least one network interface 1040 and/or applicationinterface 1045. The application interface(s) 1045 may support one ormore APIs. The network interface(s) 1040 may support 3GPP referencepoints, such as Uu, N1, N2 and N3. Other network interfaces 1040 may besupported, as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art.

The processor 1005, in one embodiment, may include any known controllercapable of executing computer-readable instructions and/or capable ofperforming logical operations. For example, the processor 1005 may be amicrocontroller, a microprocessor, a CPU, a GPU, an auxiliary processingunit, a FPGA, or similar programmable controller. In some embodiments,the processor 1005 executes instructions stored in the memory 1010 toperform the methods and routines described herein. The processor 1005 iscommunicatively coupled to the memory 1010, the input device 1015, theoutput device 1020, and the transceiver 1025. In certain embodiments,the processor 805 may include an application processor (also known as“main processor”) which manages application-domain and operating system(“OS”) functions and a baseband processor (also known as “baseband radioprocessor”) which manages radio function.

In various embodiments, the processor 1005 and/or transceiver 1025controls the network apparatus 1000 to implement the above describednetwork apparatus behaviors. In one embodiment, the transceiver 1025sends, to a user equipment (“UE”), one or more channel state information(“CSI”) reporting configurations associated with multipletransmission/reception points (“TRPs”) reporting for a mobile wirelesscommunication network. In one embodiment, the transceiver 1025 sends, tothe UE, one or more CSI reference signals (“RSs”) from the mobilewireless communication network, the one or more CSI-RSs configured forat least one of channel measurement and interference measurement. In oneembodiment, the transceiver 1025 receives, from the UE, one or more CSIreports corresponding to one or more transmission hypotheses based onthe at least one of channel measurements and interference measurements,each CSI report comprising one or more precoding matrix indicators(“PMIs”) and one or more rank indicators.

In various embodiments, the network apparatus 1000 is a RAN node (e.g.,gNB) that includes a transceiver 1025 that sends, to a user equipment(“UE”) device, an indication that channel state information (“CSI”)corresponding to multiple transmit/receives points (“TRPs”) is to bereported and receives at least one CSI report from the UE correspondingto one or more of the multiple TRPs, the CSI report generated accordingto the CSI reporting configuration, the at least one CSI reportcomprising a CSI-reference signal (“CSI-RS”) resource indicator (“CRI”).

The memory 1010, in one embodiment, is a computer readable storagemedium. In some embodiments, the memory 1010 includes volatile computerstorage media. For example, the memory 1010 may include a RAM, includingdynamic RAM (“DRAM”), synchronous dynamic RAM (“SDRAM”), and/or staticRAM (“SRAM”). In some embodiments, the memory 1010 includes non-volatilecomputer storage media. For example, the memory 1010 may include a harddisk drive, a flash memory, or any other suitable non-volatile computerstorage device. In some embodiments, the memory 1010 includes bothvolatile and non-volatile computer storage media.

In some embodiments, the memory 1010 stores data related to channelstate information reporting for multiple transmit/receive points. Forexample, the memory 1010 may store parameters, configurations, resourceassignments, policies, and the like, as described above. In certainembodiments, the memory 1010 also stores program code and related data,such as an operating system or other controller algorithms operating onthe network apparatus 1000.

The input device 1015, in one embodiment, may include any known computerinput device including a touch panel, a button, a keyboard, a stylus, amicrophone, or the like. In some embodiments, the input device 1015 maybe integrated with the output device 1020, for example, as a touchscreenor similar touch-sensitive display. In some embodiments, the inputdevice 1015 includes a touchscreen such that text may be input using avirtual keyboard displayed on the touchscreen and/or by handwriting onthe touchscreen. In some embodiments, the input device 1015 includes twoor more different devices, such as a keyboard and a touch panel.

The output device 1020, in one embodiment, is designed to output visual,audible, and/or haptic signals. In some embodiments, the output device1020 includes an electronically controllable display or display devicecapable of outputting visual data to a user. For example, the outputdevice 1020 may include, but is not limited to, an LCD display, an LEDdisplay, an OLED display, a projector, or similar display device capableof outputting images, text, or the like to a user. As another,non-limiting, example, the output device 1020 may include a wearabledisplay separate from, but communicatively coupled to, the rest of thenetwork apparatus 1000, such as a smart watch, smart glasses, a heads-updisplay, or the like. Further, the output device 1020 may be a componentof a smart phone, a personal digital assistant, a television, a tablecomputer, a notebook (laptop) computer, a personal computer, a vehicledashboard, or the like.

In certain embodiments, the output device 1020 includes one or morespeakers for producing sound. For example, the output device 1020 mayproduce an audible alert or notification (e.g., a beep or chime). Insome embodiments, the output device 1020 includes one or more hapticdevices for producing vibrations, motion, or other haptic feedback. Insome embodiments, all, or portions of the output device 1020 may beintegrated with the input device 1015. For example, the input device1015 and output device 1020 may form a touchscreen or similartouch-sensitive display. In other embodiments, the output device 1020may be located near the input device 1015.

The transceiver 1025 includes at least transmitter 1030 and at least onereceiver 1035. One or more transmitters 1030 may be used to communicatewith the UE, as described herein. Similarly, one or more receivers 1035may be used to communicate with network functions in the NPN, PLMNand/or RAN, as described herein. Although only one transmitter 1030 andone receiver 1035 are illustrated, the network apparatus 1000 may haveany suitable number of transmitters 1030 and receivers 1035. Further,the transmitter(s) 1030 and the receiver(s) 1035 may be any suitabletype of transmitters and receivers.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart diagram of a method 1100 for channel stateinformation reporting for multiple transmit/receive points. The method1100 may be performed by a UE as described herein, for example, theremote unit 105, the UE 205 and/or the user equipment apparatus 900. Insome embodiments, the method 1100 may be performed by a processorexecuting program code, for example, a microcontroller, amicroprocessor, a CPU, a GPU, an auxiliary processing unit, a FPGA, orthe like.

The method 1100, in one embodiment includes receiving 1105, at a UE, oneor more CSI reporting configurations associated with multipletransmission/reception points (“TRPs”) reporting for a mobile wirelesscommunication network. In further embodiments, the method 1100 includesreceiving 1110, at the UE, one or more channel state information (“CSI”)reference signals (“RSs”) from the mobile wireless communicationnetwork, the one or more CSI-RSs configured for at least one of channelmeasurement and interference measurement. In some embodiments, themethod 1100 includes transmitting 1115, from the UE, one or more CSIreports corresponding to one or more transmission hypotheses based onthe at least one of channel measurements and interference measurements,each CSI report comprising one or more precoding matrix indicators(“PMIs”) and one or more rank indicators. The method 1100 ends.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart diagram of a method 1200 for channel stateinformation reporting for multiple transmit/receive points. The method1200 may be performed by a network device described herein, for example,a gNB, a base station, and/or the network equipment apparatus 1000. Insome embodiments, the method 1200 may be performed by a processorexecuting program code, for example, a microcontroller, amicroprocessor, a CPU, a GPU, an auxiliary processing unit, a FPGA, orthe like.

In one embodiment, the method 1200 includes sending 1205, to a userequipment (“UE”), one or more channel state information (“CSI”)reporting configurations associated with multiple transmission/receptionpoints (“TRPs”) reporting for a mobile wireless communication network.In further embodiments, the method 1200 includes sending 1210, to theUE, one or more CSI reference signals (“RSs”) from the mobile wirelesscommunication network, the one or more CSI-RSs configured for at leastone of channel measurement and interference measurement. In oneembodiment, the method 1200 includes receiving 1215, from the UE, one ormore CSI reports corresponding to one or more transmission hypothesesbased on the at least one of channel measurements and interferencemeasurements, each CSI report comprising one or more precoding matrixindicators (“PMIs”) and one or more rank indicators. The method 1200ends.

In one embodiment, a first apparatus for channel state informationreporting for multiple transmit/receive points may be embodied as a UEas described herein, for example, the remote unit 105, the UE 205 and/orthe user equipment apparatus 900. In some embodiments, the firstapparatus may include a processor executing program code, for example, amicrocontroller, a microprocessor, a CPU, a GPU, an auxiliary processingunit, a FPGA, or the like.

The first apparatus, in one embodiment, includes a transceiver thatreceives, at a UE, one or more channel state information (“CSI”)reporting configurations associated with multiple transmission/receptionpoints (“TRPs”) reporting for a mobile wireless communication network.In one embodiment, the transceiver receives, at the UE, one or more CSIreference signals (“RSs”) from the mobile wireless communicationnetwork, the one or more CSI-RSs configured for at least one of channelmeasurement and interference measurement. In one embodiment, thetransceiver transmits, from the UE, one or more CSI reportscorresponding to one or more transmission hypotheses based on the atleast one of channel measurements and interference measurements, eachCSI report comprising one or more precoding matrix indicators (“PMIs”)and one or more rank indicators.

In one embodiment, the transceiver further receives at least oneindication from the mobile wireless communication network that multipleTRP reporting is used, the at least one indication comprising aconfiguration parameter that one or more of indicates multiple TRP CSIreporting, includes at least two identifiers corresponding to at leasttwo CSI-RS resources, indicates pair values within a report quantityconfiguration, and indicates a pair of report quantities.

In one embodiment, the first apparatus includes a processor that, inresponse to determining CSI for at least two TRPs, at least one ofdetermines a first report quantity by determining the channelmeasurements based on channel CSI-RS resources and the interferencemeasurements based on interference CSI-RS resources and determines asecond report quantity by determining the channel measurements based oninterference CSI-RS resources and the interference measurements based onchannel CSI-RS resources.

In one embodiment, a number of CSI reports that the UE can process isbased on whether a CSI report comprises a PMI. In one embodiment, asubset of the one or more CSI reporting configurations and reportquantities are common for single TRP transmission and joint TRPtransmission, the subset comprising at least one of a rank indicatorreport quantity, an interference measurement resource setting, and afirst stage of a multi-stage PMI.

In one embodiment, a difference in rank corresponding to at least twoTRPs is no greater than one. In one embodiment, the transceiver furthertransmits a single rank indicator for joint transmission and anadditional bit indicating whether one of a first PMI and a second PMIcomprises more layers.

In one embodiment, the transceiver further receives two CSI reportingconfigurations associated with the multiple TRPs, the two CSI reportingconfigurations corresponding to two downlink control information (“DCI”)configurations from at least two TRPs. In one embodiment, at least oneof the two CSI reporting configurations are received within apredetermined time window, the two CSI reporting configurations are usedto configure the UE to provide the CSI reports corresponding to the twoCSI reporting configurations within a predetermined time window, a firstof the two CSI reporting configurations comprises an identificationnumber referring to a second of the two CSI reporting configurations,and at least one of the two CSI reporting configurations comprises anindication of multiple TRP transmission.

In one embodiment, the first apparatus includes a processor that mapsCSI reports according to at least one channel hypothesis in response toreceiving at least one CSI reporting configuration and maps CSI reportsaccording to at least one corresponding TRP in response to receiving atleast two CSI reporting configurations. In one embodiment, the multipleTRPs correspond to at least two transmission configuration indicator(“TCI”) states that are mapped to a single TCI codepoint.

In one embodiment, a first method for channel state informationreporting for multiple transmit/receive points may be performed by a UEas described herein, for example, the remote unit 105, the UE 205 and/orthe user equipment apparatus 800. In some embodiments, the first methodmay be performed by a processor executing program code, for example, amicrocontroller, a microprocessor, a CPU, a GPU, an auxiliary processingunit, a FPGA, or the like.

In one embodiment, the first method includes receiving, at a UE, one ormore channel state information (“CSI”) reporting configurationsassociated with multiple transmission/reception points (“TRPs”)reporting for a mobile wireless communication network. In oneembodiment, the first method includes receiving, at the UE, one or moreCSI reference signals (“RSs”) from the mobile wireless communicationnetwork, the one or more CSI-RSs configured for at least one of channelmeasurement and interference measurement. In one embodiment, the firstmethod includes transmitting, from the UE, one or more CSI reportscorresponding to one or more transmission hypotheses based on the atleast one of channel measurements and interference measurements, eachCSI report comprising one or more precoding matrix indicators (“PMIs”)and one or more rank indicators.

In one embodiment, the first method includes receiving at least oneindication from the mobile wireless communication network that multipleTRP reporting is used, the at least one indication comprising aconfiguration parameter that one or more of indicates multiple TRP CSIreporting, includes at least two identifiers corresponding to at leasttwo CSI-RS resources, indicates pair values within a report quantityconfiguration, and indicates a pair of report quantities.

In one embodiment, the first method includes, in response to determiningCSI for at least two TRPs, at least one of determining a first reportquantity by determining the channel measurements based on channel CSI-RSresources and the interference measurements based on interference CSI-RSresources and determining a second report quantity by determining thechannel measurements based on interference CSI-RS resources and theinterference measurements based on channel CSI-RS resources.

In one embodiment, a number of CSI reports that the UE can process isbased on whether a CSI report comprises a PMI. In one embodiment, asubset of the one or more CSI reporting configurations and reportquantities are common for single TRP transmission and Joint TRPtransmission, the subset comprising at least one of a rank indicatorreport quantity, an interference measurement resource setting, and afirst stage of a multi-stage PMI.

In one embodiment, a difference in rank corresponding to at least twoTRPs is no greater than one. In one embodiment, the first methodincludes transmitting a single rank indicator for joint transmission andan additional bit indicating whether one of a first PMI and a second PMIcomprises more layers.

In one embodiment, the first method includes receiving two CSI reportingconfigurations associated with the multiple TRPs, the two CSI reportingconfigurations corresponding two downlink control information (“DCI”)configurations from at least two TRPs. In one embodiment, at least oneof the two CSI reporting configurations are received within apredetermined time window, the two CSI reporting configurations are usedto configure the UE to provide the CSI reports corresponding to the twoCSI reporting configurations within a predetermined time window, a firstof the two CSI reporting configurations comprises an identificationnumber referring to a second of the two CSI reporting configurations,and at least one of the two CSI reporting configurations comprises anindication of multiple TRP transmission.

In one embodiment, the first method includes mapping CSI reportsaccording to at least one channel hypothesis in response to receiving atleast one CSI reporting configuration and mapping CSI reports accordingto at least one corresponding TRP in response to receiving at least twoCSI reporting configurations. In one embodiment, the multiple TRPscorrespond to at least two transmission configuration indicator (“TCI”)states that are mapped to a single TCI codepoint.

A second apparatus for channel state information reporting for multipletransmit/receive points may be embodied as a network device describedherein, for example, a gNB, a base station, and/or the network equipmentapparatus 1000. In some embodiments, the second apparatus includes aprocessor executing program code, for example, a microcontroller, amicroprocessor, a CPU, a GPU, an auxiliary processing unit, a FPGA, orthe like.

The second apparatus, in one embodiment, includes a transceiver thatsends, to a user equipment (“UE”), one or more channel state information(“CSI”) reporting configurations associated with multipletransmission/reception points (“TRPs”) reporting for a mobile wirelesscommunication network. In one embodiment, the transceiver sends, to theUE, one or more CSI reference signals (“RSs”) from the mobile wirelesscommunication network, the one or more CSI-RSs configured for at leastone of channel measurement and interference measurement. In oneembodiment, the transceiver receives, from the UE, one or more CSIreports corresponding to one or more transmission hypotheses based onthe at least one of channel measurements and interference measurements,each CSI report comprising one or more precoding matrix indicators(“PMIs”) and one or more rank indicators.

A second method for channel state information reporting for multipletransmit/receive points may be performed by a network device describedherein, for example, a gNB, a base station, and/or the network equipmentapparatus 1000. In some embodiments, the second method may be performedby a processor executing program code, for example, a microcontroller, amicroprocessor, a CPU, a GPU, an auxiliary processing unit, a FPGA, orthe like.

In one embodiment, the second method includes sending, to a userequipment (“UE”), one or more channel state information (“CSI”)reporting configurations associated with multiple transmission/receptionpoints (“TRPs”) reporting for a mobile wireless communication network.In one embodiment, the second method includes sending, to the UE, one ormore CSI reference signals (“RSs”) from the mobile wirelesscommunication network, the one or more CSI-RSs configured for at leastone of channel measurement and interference measurement. In oneembodiment, the second method includes receiving, from the UE, one ormore CSI reports corresponding to one or more transmission hypothesesbased on the at least one of channel measurements and interferencemeasurements, each CSI report comprising one or more precoding matrixindicators (“PMIs”) and one or more rank indicators.

Embodiments may be practiced in other specific forms. The describedembodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrativeand not restrictive. The scope of the invention is, therefore, indicatedby the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. Allchanges which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of theclaims are to be embraced within their scope.

1. An apparatus, comprising: a processor; and a memory coupled to theprocessor, the memory comprising instructions executable by theprocessor to cause the apparatus to: receive, at a user equipment(“UE”), one or more channel state information (“CSI”) reportingconfigurations associated with multiple transmission/reception points(“TRPs”) reporting for a mobile wireless communication network; receive,at the UE, one or more CSI reference signals (“RSs”) from the mobilewireless communication network, the one or more CSI-RSs configured forat least one of channel measurement and interference measurement;transmit, from the UE, one or more CSI reports corresponding to one ormore transmission hypotheses based on the at least one of channelmeasurements and interference measurements, each CSI report comprisingone or more precoding matrix indicators (“PMIs”) and one or more rankindicators.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the instructions arefurther executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to receive atleast one indication from the mobile wireless communication network thatmultiple TRP reporting is used, the at least one indication comprising aconfiguration parameter that one or more of: indicates multiple TRP CSIreporting; includes at least two identifiers corresponding to at leasttwo CSI-RS resources; indicates pair values within a report quantityconfiguration; and indicates a pair of report quantities.
 3. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the instructions are further executable bythe processor to cause the apparatus to, in response to determining CSIfor at least two TRPs, at least one of: determine a first reportquantity by determining the channel measurements based on channel CSI-RSresources and the interference measurements based on interference CSI-RSresources; and determine a second report quantity by determining thechannel measurements based on interference CSI-RS resources and theinterference measurements based on channel CSI-RS resources.
 4. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein a number of CSI reports that the UE canprocess is based on whether a CSI report comprises a PMI.
 5. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein a subset of the one or more CSI reportingconfigurations and report quantities are common for single TRPtransmission and joint TRP transmission, the subset comprising at leastone of a rank indicator report quantity, an interference measurementresource setting, and a first stage of a multi-stage PMI.
 6. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein a difference in rank corresponding to atleast two TRPs is no greater than one.
 7. The apparatus of claim 6,wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor tocause the apparatus to transmit a single rank indicator for jointtransmission and an additional bit indicating whether one of a first PMIand a second PMI comprises more layers.
 8. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor tocause the apparatus to receive two CSI reporting configurationsassociated with the multiple TRPs, the two CSI reporting configurationscorresponding to two downlink control information (“DCI”) configurationsfrom at least two TRPs.
 9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein, at leastone of: the two CSI reporting configurations are received within apredetermined time window; the two CSI reporting configurations are usedto configure the UE to provide the CSI reports corresponding to the twoCSI reporting configurations within a predetermined time window; a firstof the two CSI reporting configurations comprises an identificationnumber referring to a second of the two CSI reporting configurations;and at least one of the two CSI reporting configurations comprises anindication of multiple TRP transmission.
 10. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor tocause the apparatus to: map CSI reports according to at least onechannel hypothesis in response to receiving at least one CSI reportingconfiguration; and map CSI reports according to at least onecorresponding TRP in response to receiving at least two CSI reportingconfigurations.
 11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the multiple TRPscorrespond to at least two transmission configuration indicator (“TCI”)states that are mapped to a single TCI codepoint.
 12. A method,comprising: receiving, at a user equipment (“UE”), one or more channelstate information (“CSI”) reporting configurations associated withmultiple transmission/reception points (“TRPs”) reporting for a mobilewireless communication network; receiving, at the UE, one or more CSIreference signals (“RSs”) from the mobile wireless communicationnetwork, the one or more CSI-RSs configured for at least one of channelmeasurement and interference measurement; transmitting, from the UE, oneor more CSI reports corresponding to one or more transmission hypothesesbased on the at least one of channel measurements and interferencemeasurements, each CSI report comprising one or more precoding matrixindicators (“PMIs”) and one or more rank indicators.
 13. The method ofclaim 12, further comprising receiving at least one indication from themobile wireless communication network that multiple TRP reporting isused, the at least one indication comprising a configuration parameterthat one or more of: indicates multiple TRP CSI reporting; includes atleast two identifiers corresponding to at least two CSI-RS resources;indicates pair values within a report quantity configuration; andindicates a pair of report quantities.
 14. The method of claim 12,wherein a subset of the one or more CSI reporting configurations andreport quantities are common for single TRP transmission and joint TRPtransmission, the subset comprising at least one of a rank indicatorreport quantity, an interference measurement resource setting, and afirst stage of a multi-stage PMI.
 15. An apparatus, comprising: aprocessor; and a memory coupled to the processor, the memory comprisinginstructions executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:send, to a user equipment (“UE”), one or more channel state information(“CSI”) reporting configurations associated with multipletransmission/reception points (“TRPs”) reporting for a mobile wirelesscommunication network; send, to the UE, one or more CSI referencesignals (“RSs”) from the mobile wireless communication network, the oneor more CSI-RSs configured for at least one of channel measurement andinterference measurement; receive, from the UE, one or more CSI reportscorresponding to one or more transmission hypotheses based on the atleast one of channel measurements and interference measurements, eachCSI report comprising one or more precoding matrix indicators (“PMIs”)and one or more rank indicators.
 16. The method of claim 12, furthercomprising, in response to determining CSI for at least two TRPs, atleast one of: determining a first report quantity by determining thechannel measurements based on channel CSI-RS resources and theinterference measurements based on interference CSI-RS resources; anddetermining a second report quantity by determining the channelmeasurements based on interference CSI-RS resources and the interferencemeasurements based on channel CSI-RS resources.
 17. The method of claim12, wherein a number of CSI reports that the UE can process is based onwhether a CSI report comprises a PMI.
 18. The method of claim 12,wherein a difference in rank corresponding to at least two TRPs is nogreater than one.
 19. The method of claim 18, further comprisingtransmitting a single rank indicator for joint transmission and anadditional bit indicating whether one of a first PMI and a second PMIcomprises more layers.
 20. The method of claim 12, further comprisingreceiving two CSI reporting configurations associated with the multipleTRPs, the two CSI reporting configurations corresponding to two downlinkcontrol information (“DCI”) configurations from at least two TRPs.